with  World  Wmnei 


S,D,  Gordon 


tihraxy  of  trhe  theological  ^tmimvy 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

The  Estate  of  the 
He"^r.  John  B,  Wiedinger 

BR  125  .G7  1910  ' 

Gordon,  Samuel  Dickey,  1859 

1936. 
Quiet  talks  with  world 
winners 


QUIET    TALKS    WITH    WORLD 
WINNERS 


S.    D.    GORDON'S 

QUIET  TALKS 


Quiet  Talks  on  Power 
Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 
Quiet  Talks  on  Service 

Quiet  Talks  About  Jesus 

Quiet  Talks  on  Personal  Problems 

Quiet  Talks  with  World  Winners 

Quiet  Talks  About  the  Tempter 

Quiet  Talks  on  Home  Ideals 

Quiet  Talks  About  Our  Lord*s  Return 

Quiet  Talks  on  Following  the  Christ 
Quiet  Talks  About  the  Crowned  Christ 

of  the  Revelation 
Quiet  Talks  on  John's  Gospel 

BOOKLETS 

A  Quid  Talk  with  Those  Who  Weep. 
A    Quiet    Talk   about    the   Babe   of 

Bethlehem 
Prayer  Changes   Things 
The    Consummation    of  CaCvary 
Crowding    Out  the   Christ  Child 
Keeping  Tryst.       Decorated  boards, 
Jesus  Habits  of  Prayer.     Decorated 

boards 
The  Quietest  Talk,     i6mo,  paper 
The  Quiet  Time,  With  Daily  Prayer  Pages. 


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Quiet  Talks  with 
World    Winners 


BY 

s,  D.  Gordon 

Author  of  **  Quiet   Talks  on  Power,^''   **  Quiet 

Talks  About  Jesus,''  **  Quiet  Talks  on 

Personal  Problems''    Etc. 


NEW  YORK         CHIC  A  GO  TORONTO 

FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 

L  OND  ON  A  ND  EDINB  UR  GH 


%SS 


Copyright,  1908,  by 
A.  C.  ARMSTRONG  &  SON 


Copyright  transferred,  1910,  to 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  CO. 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  17  North  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:     100     Princes     Street 


CONTENTS 

I.    World-winning. 

PAGE 

1.  The  Master  Passion 7 

2.  The  Master's  Plan 35 

3.  The  Need ' 59 

4.  The  Present  Opportunity 81 

5.  The  Pressing  Emergency 103 

6.  The  Past  Failure 119 

7.  The  Coming  Victory 133 

II.    Winning  Forces. 

1.  The  Church 153 

2.  Each  One  of  Us 169 

3.  Jesus • 189 

4.  The  Holy  Spirit 205 

5.  Prayer 225 

6.  Money 245 

7    Sacrifice       ..••••..•..  263 


THE    MASTER    PASSION 


The  Earliest  Calvary  Picture. 

The  Love  Passion. 

Mother-love. 

The  Genesis  Picture. 

God  Giving  Himself. 

God's  Fellow. 

The  Genesis  Water-mark. 

A  Human  Picture  of  God. 

On  a  Wooing  Errand. 

Jesus'  World-passion. 


The   Master   Passion 


The  Earliest  Calvary  Picture. 

There's  a  great  passion  burning  in  the  heart  of 
God.  It  is  tenderly  warm  and  tenaciously  strong. 
Its  fires  never  burn  low,  nor  lose  their  fine  glow. 
That  passion  is  to  win  man  back  home  again. 
The  whole  world  of  man  is  included  in  its  warm, 
eager  reach. 

The  old  home  hearth-fire  of  God  is  lonely  since 
man  went  away.  The  family  circle  is  broken. 
God  will  not  rest  until  that  old  home  circle  is 
complete  again,  and  every  voice  joining  in  the 
home  songs. 

It  is  an  overmastering  passion,  the  overmaster- 
ing passion  of  God's  heart.  It  has  guided  and 
controlled  all  His  thoughts  and  plans  for  man 
from  the  first.  The  purpose  of  winning  man,  and 
the  whole  race,  back  again  is  the  dominant  grip- 
ping passion  of  God's  heart  to-day.  Everything 
is  made  to  bend  to  this  one  end. 

When  Eden's  tragedy  came  so  early,  to  darken 
the  pages  of  this  old  Book,  and,  far  worse,  to 
darken  the  pages  ■  of  human  life,  there  is  a  great 
glimpse  of  this  passion  of  God's  heart  in  the 
guarding   of   those    Eden   gates.     The   presence 

9 


I  ©     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

of  the  angels  with  their  sword  of  flame  told 
plainly  of  a  day  when  man  would  be  coming  back 
again  to  the  old  Eden  home  of  God.  The  place 
must  be  carefully  guarded  for  him. 

This  is  a  love  passion,  a  passion  of  love.  And 
love  itself  is  the  master  passion  both  of  the  human 
heart  and  of  God's  heart.  Nothing  can  grip  and 
fill  and  sway  the  heart  either  of  man  or  God  like 
that. 

We  would  all  easily  agree  that  the  greatest 
picture  of  God's  marvellous,  overmastering  passion 
of  love  is  seen  in  the  cross.  All  men  as  they  have 
come  to  know  that  story  have  stood  with  heads 
bowed  and  bared  before  the  love  revealed  there. 
They  have  not  understood  it.  They  have  quar- 
relled about  its  meaning.  But  they  have  acknowl- 
edged its  love  and  power  as  beyond  that  of  any 
other  story  or  picture. 

However  men  may  differ  as  to  why  Jesus  died, 
and  how  His  dying  affects  us,  they  all  agree  that 
the  scene  of  the  cross  is  the  greatest  revelation  of 
love  ever  known  or  ever  shown.  All  theories  of 
the  atonement  seem  to  be  lost  sight  of  in  one 
thought  of  grateful  acknowledgment  of  a  stupen- 
dous love,  as  men  are  drawn  together  by  the  mag- 
netism of  the  hill-top  of  Calvary. 

But  there  is  a  wondrously  clear  foreshadowing 
of  that  tremendous  cross  scene  in  the  earliest  page 
of  this  old  Book.  Nowhere  is  love,  God's  passion 
of  love,  made  to  stand  out  more  distinctly  and 
vividly  than  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.  The 
after-scene  of  the  cross  uses  intenser  coloring; 


The  Master  Passion  ii 

the  blacks  are  inkier  in  their  blackness;  the  reds 
deeper  and  redder;  the  contrasts  sharper  to  the 
startling-point;  yet  there  is  nothing  in  the  cross 
chapters  of  the  Gospels  not  included  fully  in  this 
first  leaf  of  revelation.  But  it  has  taken  the  light 
of  the  cross  to  open  our  eyes  to  see  how  much  is 
plainly  there.     Let  us  look  at  it  a  bit. 

The  Love  Passion. 

What  is  this  greatest  of  passions  called  love? 
There  is  no  word  harder  to  get  a  satisfactory  def- 
inition of.  Because,  whatever  you  say  about  it, 
there  comes  quickly  to  your  mind  some  one  who 
loves  you,  or  you  think  of  the  passion  that  burns 
in  your  own  heart  for  some  one.  And,  as  you 
think  of  that,  no  words  that  anybody  may  use 
seem  at  all  strong  enough,  or  tender  enough,  to 
tell  what  love  is,  as  you  know  it  in  your  own  inner 
heart. 

Yet  I  think  this  much  can  be  said — love  is 
the  tender,  strong  outgoing  of  your  whole  bemg  to 
another.  It  is  a  passion  burning  like  a  fire  within 
you,  a  soft-burning  but  intense  fire  within  you,  for 
some  other  one.  Every  mention  of  that  name 
stirs  the  flame  into  new  burning.  Every  passing 
or  lingering  thought  of  him  or  her  is  like  fresh 
air  making  the  flames  leap  up  more  eagerly. 
And  each  personal  contact  is  a  clearing  out  of  all 
the  ashes,  and  a  turning  on  of  all  the  draughts,  to 
feed  new  oxygen  for  stronger,  fresher  burning. 

There  are  many  other  things  that  seem  like 
love.     Kindliness  and  friendliness,  and  even  in- 


1 2      Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

tenser  emotions,  use  love's  name  for  themselves. 
But  though  these  have  likenesses  to  love,  they  are 
not  love.  They  have  caught  something  of  its 
warm  glow.  A  bit  of  the  high  coloring  of  its 
■  flames  plays  on  them.  But  they  are  not  the  real 
thing,  only  distant  kinsfolk.  The  severe  tests 
of  life  quickly  reveal  their  lack. 

Love  itself  is  really  an  aristocrat.  It  allows 
very,  very  few  into  its  inner  circle,  often  only  one. 
The  real  thing  of  love  is  never  selfish.  Now  we 
know  very  well  that  in  the  thick  of  life  the  fine 
gold  of  love  gets  mixed  up  with  the  baser  metals. 
It  is  very  often  overlaid,  and  shot  through  with 
much  that  is  mean  and  low.  Rank  selfishness, 
both  the  coarse  kind  and  the  refined,  cultured  sort, 
seeks  a  hiding-place  under  its  cloak.  But  the 
stuff  mixed  in  it  is  not  love,  but  a  defiling  of  it. 
That  is  a  bit  of  the  slander  it  suffers  for  a  time, 
from  the  presence  in  life  of  sin. 

Weeds  with  their  poison,  and  snakes  and  spiders 
with  their  deadly  venom,  draw  life  from  the  sun. 
That  is  a  bit  of  the  bad  transmuting  the  good, 
pure  sun  into  its  own  sort.  The  sun  itself  never 
produces  poison  or  any  hurtful  thing. 

Love  itself  is  never  mean,  nor  bad,  nor  selfish. 
The  man  who  truly  loves  the  woman  whom  he 
would  have  for  his  own  lifelong,  closest  com- 
panion is  not  selfish.  He  does  not  want  her  chiefly 
for  his  own  sake,  but  for  her  sake,  that  so  he  may 
guard  and  care  for  her,  and  her  life  be  fully  grown 
in  the  sunhght  of  the  love  it  must  have.  And,  if 
you  think  that  is  idealizing  it  out  of  all  practical 


The  Master  Passion  13 

reach,  please  remember  that  true  love  will  steadily 
refuse  the  union  that  would  not  be  best  for  the 
loved  one. 

What  is  the  finest  and  highest  love  that  we 
know?  There  are  many  different  sorts  and  de- 
grees of  love  revealed  in  man's  relation  with  his 
fellow:  conjugal,  the  love  between  husband  and 
wife;  paternal,  the  love  of  a  father  for  his  child; 
maternal,  the  mother's  love  for  her  child;  fiUal,  the 
love  of  children  for  father  and  mother;  fraternal, 
or  brotherly,  meaning  really  the  love  of  children  of 
the  same  parents  for  each  other,  both  brothers  and 
sisters — the  same  word  is  used  for  love  between 
friends  where  there  is  no  tie  of  blood;  and  patri- 
otic, or  love  for  one's  country.  And  under  that 
last  word  may  be  loosely  grouped  the  love  that 
one  may  have  for  any  special  object,  to  which 
he  may  devote  his  life,  outside  of  personal  rela- 
tionships, such  as  music  or  any  profession  or 
occupation. 

This  is  putting  them  in  their  logical  order. 
Though  in  our  experience  we  know  the  father- 
and  mother-love  for  ourselves  first;  and  then  in 
turn  the  others,  so  far  as  they  come  to  us,  until 
we  complete  the  circle  and  reach  the  climax  of 
father-  and  mother-love  in  ourselves  going  out  to 
another. 

Mother-love. 


Now  of  these  sorts  and  degrees  which  is  the 
highest  and  finest?  Well,  your  answer  to  that 
question  will  depend  entirely  on  your  own  ex- 


1 4     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

perience;  as  every  answer  and  every  thought  we 
have  of  everything  does.  All  children  have 
mothers,  or  have  had,  but  thousands  of  children 
don't  know  a  mother's  love. 

I  was  speaking  one  time  in  New  York  City  about 
the  conception,  of  which  the  Bible  is  so  full,  that 
God  is  a  mother.  And  the  EngUsh  evangelist 
Gypsy  Smith,  who  lost  his  mother  w^hen  very 
young,  but  who  had  an  unusually  devoted  father, 
said  with  charming  simphcity  that  he  could  not 
just  see  how  God  could  be  called  a  mother,  but 
he  knew  He  was  a  father.  And  then  he  went  on  to 
speak  very  winsomely  of  God  as  a  father. 

Many  times  love  is  not  born  in  the  heart  at  all, 
until  there  comes  into  the  life  some  one  clear 
outside  of  one's  own  kin.  Many  a  woman  never 
knows  love  until  it  is  awakened  in  her  heart  by 
him  who  henceforth  is  to  be  a  part  of  herself. 

But  the  common  answer,  that  most  people  every- 
where give  to  that  question,  is  that  a  mother^s 
hrve  is  the  greatest  human  love  we  know.  And 
if  you  press  them  to  tell  why  they  think  so,  this 
stands  out  oftenest  and  strongest — that  it  is  be- 
cause she  gives  so  much  of  herself.  She  gives  her 
very  life.  If  need  be,  she  sacrifices  everything 
in  life,  and  then  sacrifices  life  itself,  going  out  into 
the  darkness  of  death  that  her  child  may  come 
into  fulness  and  sweetness  of  life.  This  is  the 
mother  spirit,  giving  one's  very  self  to  bring  Hfe 
to  another. 

The  mother  gives  her  very  life-blood  that  the 
new  life  may  come.     And,  if  need  be,  will  gladly 


The  Master  Passion  15 

give  her  life  out  to  the  death  that  the  new  life  may 
come  into  life.  And  yet  more,  she  gives  her  life 
out  daily  and  yearly,  throughout  its  length,  that 
so  the  full  strength  and  fragrance  of  life  may  come 
in  her  child's  Ufe. 

Yet,  when  all  this  has  been  said,  I  am  strongly 
inclined  to  think  that  the  mother's  love,  though 
the  greatest  that  can  be  found  in  any  one  heart, 
is  not  the  perfect,  fully  grown  love.  The  human 
unit  is  not  a  man  nor  a  woman,  but  a  man  and 
a  woman.  Perfect  love  requires  more  than  one  or 
two  for  its  matured  growth  into  full  life.  It  can- 
not exist  in  its  full  strength  and  fragrant  sweets 
except  where  three  are  joined  together  to  draw 
out  its  full  depth  and  meaning. 

There  must  be  two  whose  hearts  are  fully  joined 
in  love,  each  finding  answering  and  ever-satisfying 
love  in  the  other;  and  so  each  love  growing  to  full 
ripeness  in  the  warm  sunshine  of  the  other  love. 
And  then  there  needs  to  be  a  third  one,  who  comes 
as  a  result  of  that  mutual  love,  and  who  con- 
stantly draws  out  the  love  of  the  other  two. 

For  love  in  itself  is  creative.  It  yearns  to  bring 
into  being  another  upon  whom  it  may  freely  lavish 
itself.  That  other  one  must  be  of  its  own  sort, 
upon  its  own  level.  Nothing  less  ever  satisfies. 
And  so  the  love  poured  out  draws  out  to  itself  an 
answering  love  fully  as  full  as  its  own.  And  then, 
having  yearned,  it  does  more.  It  creates.  It  must 
create.  It  must  bring  forth  life;  and  life  like 
its  own  in  all  its  powers  and  privileges.  This  is 
the  very  life  of  love  in  its  full  expression. 


1 6      Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

Yet  to  say  all  this  is  simply  to  spell  out  fully,  in 
all  its  letters  and  syllables,  the  great,  the  greatest 
of  passions,  mother-love,  which  we  agreed  a 
moment  ago  was  the  highest.  For  mother-love 
is  not  restricted  to  woman,  though  among  us 
humans  it  often  finds  its  brightest  expressions  in 
her.  It  knows  no  restriction  of  sex.  It  is  simply 
love  at  its  fullest  and  highest  and  freest  and 
tenderest;  free  to  do  as  it  will,  and  to  do  it 
as  fully  as  it  will.  Love  left  to  itself,  free  to 
do  as  its  heart  dictates,  will  give  its  very  self, 
its  life,  that  life  may  come  to  another.  This 
is  the  great  passion  called  love,  the  greatest  of 
all  passions. 

The  Genesis  Picture. 


Now,  maybe  you  think  we  have  swung  pretty 
far  away  from  that  first  chapter  of  the  Genesis 
revelation.  No;  you  are  mistaken  there.  We 
have  been  walking,  with  rapid  stride,  by  the 
shortest  road,  straight  into  its  inner  heart.  Let 
us  look  a  bit  at  the  picture  of  God  sketched  for  us 
in  this  earliest  page  of  revelation. 

There  are  two  creations  here,  first  of  the  earth, 
man's  home;  and  then  of  man  himself  who  was 
to  live  in  the  home.  Here  at  once  in  the  beginning 
is  mother-love.  Before  the  new  life  comes  the 
mother  is  absorbed  in  getting  the  home  ready; 
the  best  and  softest  and  homiest  home  that  her 
mother-love  can  think  of,  and  her  fingers  fix. 
The  same  mother  instinct  in  the  birds  spends 
itself  in  getting  the  nest  ready,  and  then  patiently 


The  Master  Passion  17 

broods  until  the  new  occupants  come  to  take 
possession. 

The  Bible  never  calls  God  a  mother,  though  the 
mother  language,  as  here,  is  used  of  Him  many 
times.  It  takes  more  of  the  human  to  tell  the  di- 
vine. You  must  take  many  words,  and  several  of 
our  human  relationships,  and  put  them  together, 
in  the  finest  meaning  of  each,  to  get  near  the  full 
meaning  of  what  God  is.  Up  on  the  higher 
level,  with  God,  the  word  *' father  "  really  includes 
all  that  both  father  and  mother  mean  to  us. 

The  word  "  father"  is  even  used  once  of  God  in 
what  we  think  of  as  the  strict  mother  sense.  In 
speaking  of  God's  early  care  of  the  Hebrews 
Paul  says,  "as  a  nursing-father  bore  he  them  in 
the  wilderness."*  That  word  "nursing-father" 
is  peculiar  in  coupling  the  distinctive  function  of 
the  mother  in  caring  for  the  babe  with  the  word 
father. 

The  word  "  father"  applied  to  God  includes  not 
only  our  meaning  of  father  in  all  its  strength 
as  we  know  it  at  its  best;  but  all  of  tb^  meaning  of 
the  word  "mother,"  in  all  its  sweet  fragrance,  as 
we  have  had  it  breathed  into  our  own  very  life. 

We  have  come  commonly  to  think  of  the  word 
mother  as  a  tenderer  word  than  father.  Though 
I  have  met  many,  both  men  and  women,  who  un- 
consciously revealed  that  their  experience  has 
made  father  the  tenderer,  and  the  tenderest  word 
to  them.  Father  stands  commonly  for  the 
stronger,  more  rugged  qualities;  and  mother  for 
'Acts  13:18,  American  Rerision. 


1 8     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

the  finer,  gentler,  sweeter,  maybe  softer  qualities, 
in  the  strong  meaning  of  that  word  soft. 

God  Giving  Himself. 

Here  in  this  Genesis  story  the  creation  of  the 
whole  sun-system  to  give  life  to  the  earth,  and  of 
the  earth  itself,  was  the  outward  beginning  of  this 
greatest  passion  of  love  in  the  heart  of  God.  And 
if  you  would  know  more  of  that  love  in  this  early 
stage  of  it,  just  look  a  bit  at  the  home  itself.  It 
has  been  pretty  badly  mussed,  soiled  and  hurt  by 
sin's  foul  touch.  Yet  even  so  it  is  a  wonder 
of  a  world  in  its  beauty  and  fruitfulness.  What 
must  it  have  been  before  the  slime  and  tangle  of 
sin  got  in!  But  that's  a  whole  story  by  itself. 
We  must  not  stop  there  just  now. 

When  the  home  was  ready  God  set  Himself  to 
bringing  the  new  life  He  was  planning.  And  He 
did  it,  even  as  father  and  mother  of  our  human 
kind  and  of  every  other  kind  do : — ^He  gave  some 
of  Himself.  He  breathed  into  man  His  own 
Kfe-breath.  He  came  Himself,  and  with  the 
warmth  and  v.:ality  of  His  Hfe  brought  a  new  life. 
The  new  life  was  a  bit  of  Himself. 

That  phrase,  "breathed  into  his  nostrils,"  brings 
to  us  the  conception  of  the  closest  personal,  physi- 
cal contact;  two  together  in  most  intimate  con- 
tact, and  life  passing  from  one  to  the  other.  The 
picture  of  Elijah  stretching  his  warm  body  upon 
that  of  the  widow's  son  until  the  life-breath  came 
again  comes  instinctively  to  mind.  And  its  com- 
pajoion  scene  comes  with  it,  of  Eiisha  lying  prooe 


The  Master  Passion  19 

upon  the  child,  mouth  to  mouth,  eye  to  eye, 
hand  to  hand,  until  the  breath  again  softly  re- 
entered that  little,  precious  body. 

And  if  all  this  seems  too  plain  and  homely  a 
way  to  talk  about  the  great  God,  let  us  remember 
it  is  the  way  of  this  blessed  old  Book.  It  is  the 
only  way  we  shall  come  to  know  the  marvellous 
intimacy  and  tenderness  of  God's  love,  and  oi 
God's  touch  upon  ourselves. 

How  shall  we  talk  best  about  God  so  as  to  get 
clear,  sensible  ideas  about  Him?  Why  not  fol- 
low the  rule  of  the  old  Bible  ?  Can  we  do  better  ? 
It  constantly  speaks  of  Him  in  the  language  that 
we  use  of  men.  The  scholars,  with  their  fondness 
for  big  words,  say  the  Bible  is  anthropomorphic. 
That  simply  means  that  it  uses  man's  words,  and 
man's  ideas  of  things  in  telling  about  God.  It 
makes  use  of  the  common  words  and  ideas,  that 
man  understands  fully,  to  tell  about  the  God, 
whom  he  doesn't  know.  Could  there  be  a  more 
sensible  way  ?  Indeed,  how  else  could  man  under- 
stand? 

Some  dear,  godly  people  have  sometimes  been 
afraid  of  the  use  of  simple,  homely  language  in 
talking  about  God.  To  speak  of  Him  in  the  com- 
mon language  of  every-day  life,  the  common  talk 
of  home  and  kitchen,  and  shop  and  street  and 
trade,  seems  to  them  lacking  in  due  reverence. 
Do  they  forget  that  this  is  the  language  of  the 
common  people?  And  of  our  good  old  Anglo- 
Saxon  Bible?  Has  anybody  ever  yet  used  as 
blunt  homely,  talk  as  this  old  Book  uses?    And 


20     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

has  any  other  book  stuck  into  people's  memories 
and  hearts  with  such  burr-like  hold  as  it  has? 

That  breathing  by  God  into  man's  nostrils  of 
the  breath  of  life  suggests  the  intensest  concen- 
tration of  strength  and  thought  and  heart.  The 
whole  heart  of  God  went  out  to  man  in  that  breath 
that  brought  life. 

God's  Fellow. 

The  whole  thought  of  God's  heart  was  to  have 
a  man  like  Himself.  Over  and  over  again,  with 
all  the  peculiar  emphasis  of  repetition,  it  is  said 
that  the  man  was  to  be  in  the  very  image,  or  like- 
ness, of  God.  God  gave  Himself  that  the  man 
might  be  a  bit  of  Himself.  Here  is  the  love-passion, 
the  mother-passion,  the  father-mother-passion,  in 
its  highest  mood,  and  at  its  own  finest  work. 

The  man  was  to  be  the  very  best,  that  so  he 
might  have  fellowship  of  the  most  intimate  sort 
with  God.  Of  course,  only  those  who  are  alike 
can  have  fellowship.  Only  in  that  particular 
thing  which  any  two  have  in  common  can  they 
have  fellowship  together.  Let  me  use  a  common 
word  in  its  old,  fine,  first  meaning:  man  was 
made  to  be  God's  fellow^  His  most  intimate  as- 
sociate and  companion. 

As  you  read  this  early  story  in  Genesis  of  God's 
passion  of  love,  you  know,  if  you  stop  to  think  into 
it,  that  if  ever  the  need  for  it  came,  He  will 
climb  any  Calvary  hill,  however  steep,  and  re- 
ceive the  jagging  nails  of  any  cross,  however 
cutting,  for  the  sake  of  His  darling  child — man. 


The  Master  Passion  21 

This  love-passion  never  faileth.  There  is  no 
emergency  that  can  arise  that  is  too  great  for  love's 
resources.  Any  danger,  however  great,  every  need, 
no  matter  how  distressing,  is  already  provided  for 
by  love.  The  emergency  may  sorely  test  and 
tax  love  to  its  last  limit,  but  it  can  never  outdo  it, 
nor  outstrip  it  in  the  race.  No  matter  how  great 
the  danger,  love  is  a  bit  greater.  No  matter  how 
strong  the  enemy  threatening,  love  is  always  yet 
stronger.  However  deep  down  into  the  very  vitals 
of  life  the  poison-sting  may  sink  its  fangs,  love 
goes  yet  deeper,  neutralizing  the  deadly  influ- 
ence with  its  own  fresh  life-blood. 

Have  you  ever  looked  into  a  single  drop  of  water 
and  seen  the  sun  ?  the  whole  of  that  brilHant  ball 
of  fire  there  in  one  tiny  drop  of  water?  Well, 
there's  one  word  on  this  first  leaf  of  the  Book 
which  contains  the  clear  reflection,  sharply  out- 
lined, of  the  whole  creation  story;  ah!  yes,  more 
than  that,  of  the  whole  Gospel  story. 

Come  here  and  look;  you  can  see  in  its  clear 
surface  the  form  of  a  man  climbing  a  little,  steep 
hill,  and  being  hung,  thorn-crowned,  upon  a  cross 
of  pain  and  shame.  It  is  in  chapter  one,  verse  two, 
the  word  "brooding.'*  The  old  version  and  the 
Revision,  both  English  and  American,  have  the 
word  "moved."  The  Revisions  add  "brooding" 
in  the  margin.  And  that  is  the  root  meaning  of 
the  word  underneath  our  EngHsh — "brooding," 
or,  rendered  more  fully,  "was  brooding  tremulous 
with  love." 


2  2      Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

The  Genesis  Water-mark. 

That  English  word  "brooding/*  as  well  as  the 
old  word  underneath,  is  a  mother  word.  The 
brooding  hen  sits  so  faithfully,  day  after  day,  upon 
the  eggs,  "bringing  the  new  lives  by  the  vital  warmth 
of  her  own  body.  The  mother-bird  nestles  softly 
down  upon  the  nest  in  tlie  crotch  of  the  tree, 
patiently,  expectantly  brooding,  by  the  strength  of 
her  own  Hfe  giving  life  to  the  coming  young.  She 
who,  in  the  hoHest,  greatest  function  entrusted  to 
her,  comes  nearest  to  God  in  creative  power  and 
love — the  mother  of  our  human  kind,  broods  for 
long  months  over  her  coming  child,  giving  her 
very  life,  until  the  crisis  of  birth  comes;  and  then 
broods  still,  for  months  and  years  longer,  that  the 
new  life  may  come  into  fulness  of  life.  That  is 
the  great  word  used  here. 

Now,  will  you  please  notice  very  keenly  the 
connection  in  which  it  occurs.  It  was  because 
the  earth  was  "  waste  and  void,  and  darkness  upon 
the  face  of  the  deep,"  that  the  Spirit  of  God  was 
brooding.  It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  our  scholarly 
friends  who  think  in  Hebrew  are  divided  as  to 
the  meaning  here.  Some  think  that  these  words, 
"waste  and  void,"  simply  indicate  a  stage,  or 
step,  in  the  processes  of  creation. 

But  others  of  them  are  just  as  positive  in  saying 
that  the  words  point  plainly  to  a  disaster  of  some 
sort  that  took  place.  In  their  view  the  whole 
story  of  creation  is  in  the  ten  opening  words  of  the 
chapter.    Then  follows  a  bad  break  of  some  sort; 


The  Master  Passion  23 

then  the  brooding  of  God  in  verse  two;  and  the 
rest  of  the  chapter  is  taken  up  in  what  is  practically 
a  reshaping  up  again  of  the  whole  affair.  Some 
of  this  second  group  of  Hebrew  scholars  have  made 
this  translation, — ''the  earth  became  a  waste,"  or 
**a  wreck,"  or  "a  ruin,"  or  "without  inhabitant." 

If  we  may  so  read  it  now,  it  gives  a  world  of 
additional  meaning  to  this  word  "brooding." 
Here  was  love  not  merely  giving  life,  but  giving 
itself  to  overcome  a  disaster.  The  brooding  was 
to  mend  a  break.  Love  creates.  It  also  re- 
deems. It  stoops  down  with  great  patience,  and 
washes  the  dirt  and  filth  thoroughly  off,  in  the 
best  cleansing  Hquid  to  be  found,  and  brings  the 
cleansed,  redeemed  man  back  again. 

Love  does  indeed  create.  It  gave  man  the  power 
to  choose  freely,  without  any  restriction,  whatever 
he  would  choose  to  choose.  Redeeming  love  does 
more.  It  woos  him  to  choose  the  right,  and  only 
the  right.  It  gets  down  by  his  side  after  his  eye- 
sight has  become  twisted,  and  his  will  badly  kinked 
by  wrong  choosing,  and  patiently,  persistently 
works  to  draw  him  up  to  the  level  of  choosing 
right.  Love  makes  us  like  God  in  the  power  of 
choice.  But  there's  a  greater  task  ahead.  It 
makes  us  yet  more  like  Him  in  the  desire  to  choose 
only  the  right,  and  in  the  power  to  choose  it,  too. 
All  this  is  in  that  marvellous  world  of  a  word — 
"brooding." 

The  whole  story  of  the  sacrifice  of  Calvary  is 
included  in  this  wondrous  first  leaf  of  revelation. 
If  we  had  lost  the  Gospels,  and  didn't  know  their 


24     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

story,  nor  the  history  of  man,  we  yet  could  know 
from  this  Genesis  page  that,  if  ever  the  need  arose, 
God  would  lavishly  give  out  His  very  life,  at  any 
cost  of  suffering  and  pain,  that  His  man  might 
be  saved.  John,  three,  sixteen  is  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis.  Calvary  is  in  the  crea- 
tion. God  gave  His  breath  to  man  in  creation, 
and  His  blood  for  man  on  Calvary.  He  gave 
His  blood  because  He  had  given  His  breath. 
Each  was  His  very  life. 

You  know  the  way  publishers  have  of  putting 
an  imprint  in  a  book  by  means  of  what  is  called 
a  water-mark.  By  the  skilful  use  of  water  in 
manufacturing  the  paper,  a  name  or  trade  im- 
print is  made  a  part  of  the  very  paper  of  which 
the  book  is  made. 

Have  you  ever  noticed  God's  water-mark  on 
the  paper  of  this  first  leaf  of  His  Book?  Hold 
your  Bible  up  as  we  talk;  separate  this  first  leaf 
and  hold  it  up  to  the  light  and  try  to  see  through 
it.  The  best  light  to  use  is  that  which  came  from 
Calvary.  Can  you  see  the  water-mark  plainly 
imprinted  there?  Look  closely  and  carefully, 
for  it  is  there.  In  clear-cut  outHne,  every  bit  of  it 
showing  sharply  out,  is  a  cross.  And  if  you  look 
still  more  closely  you  will  find  this  water-mark 
different  from  those  in  common  use,  in  this — 
there  is  a  distinct  blood-red  tinge  to  it. 

A  Human  Picture  of  God, 

Illustrations  of  God  from  our  common  life 
are  never  full,  and  must  not  be  taken  too  critically, 


The  Master  Passion  25 

but  they  are  sometimes  wonderfully  vivid  and  very 
helpful.  Anything  that  makes  God  seem  real  and 
near  helps. 

A  few  years  ago  I  heard  a  simple  story  of  real 
life  from  the  lips  of  a  New  England  clergyman. 
It  was  told  of  a  brother  clergyman  of  the  same 
denomination,  and  stationed  in  the  same  city  with 
the  man  who  told  me. 

This  clergyman  had  a  son,  about  fourteen  years 
of  age,  who,  of  course,  was  going  to  school.  One 
day  the  boy's  teacher  called  at  the  house  and 
asked  for  the  father.    When  they  met  he  said: 

*'Is  your  son  sick?" 

"No;  why?" 

"He  was  not  at  school  to-day.*' 

"You  don't  mean  it!" 

"Nor  yesterday." 

"Indeed!" 

"Nor  the  day  before." 

"WeU!" 

"And  I  supposed  he  was  sick.** 

"No,  he's  not  sick." 

"Well,  I  thought  I  should  tell  you." 

And  the  father  thanked  him,  and  the  teacher  left. 
The  father  sat  thinking  about  his  son,  and  those 
three  days.  By  and  by  he  heard  a  cHck  at  the  gate, 
and  he  knew  the  boy  was  coming  in.  So  he  went 
to  the  door  to  meet  him  at  once.  And  the  boy 
knew  as  he  looked  up  that  the  father  knew  about 
those  three  days. 

And  the  father  said,  "Come  into  the  library, 
Phil.'^ 


26     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

And  Phil  went  and  the  door  was  shut. 

Then  the  father  said  very  quietly,  "Phil,  your 
teacher  was  here  a  little  while  ago.  He  tells  me 
you  were  not  at  school  to-day,  nor  yesterday,  nor 
the  day  before.  And  we  thought  you  were.  You 
let  us  think  you  were.  And  you  don't  know  how 
bad  I  feel  about  this.  I  have  always  said  I  could 
trust  my  boy  Phil.  I  always  have  trusted  you. 
And  here  you  have  been  a  living  lie  for  three  whole 
days.     I  can't  tell  you  how  bad  I  feel  about  it." 

Well,  it  was  hard  on  the  boy  to  be  talked  to  in 
that  gentle  way.  If  his  father  had  spoken  to  him 
roughly,  or  had  taken  him  out  to  the  wood-shed, 
in  the  rear  of  the  dwelling,  it  wouldn't  have  been 
nearly  so  hard. 

Then  the  father  said,  "  We'll  get  down  and  pray." 
And  the  thing  was  getting  harder  for  Phil  all  the 
time.  He  didn't  want  to  pray  just  then.  Most 
people  don't  about  that  time. 

And  they  got  down  on  their  knees^  side  by  side. 
And  the  father  poured  out  his  heart  in  prayer. 
And  the  boy  listened.  Somehow  he  saw  himself 
in  the  looking-glass  of  his  knee-joints  as  he  hadn't 
before.  It  is  queer  about  that  mirror  of  the  knee- 
joints,  the  things  you  see  in  it.  Most  people  don't 
like  to  use  it  much.  And  they  got  up  from  their 
knees.  The  father's  eyes  were  wet.  And  Phil's 
eyes  were  not  dry. 

Then  the  father  said,  "My  boy,  there's  a  law 
of  life,  that  where  there  is  sin  there  is  suffering. 
You  can't  get  those  two  things  apart.  Wherever 
there  is  suffering  there  has  been  sin,  somewhere, 


The  Master  Passion  27 

by  somebody.  And  wherever  there  is  sin  there 
will  be  suffering,  for  some  one,  somewhere;  and 
likely  most  for  those  closest  to  you." 

"  Now,"  he  said, "  my  boy,  you  have  done  wrong. 
So  we'll  do  this.  You  go  up-stairs  to  the  attic. 
I'll  make  a  little  bed  for  you  there  in  the  corner. 
We'll  bring  your  meals  up  to  you  at  the  usual 
times.  And  you  stay  up  in  the  attic  three  days 
and  three  nights,  as  long  as  you've  been  a  living 
lie."  And  the  boy  didn't  say  a  word.  They 
climbed  the  attic  steps.  The  father  kissed  his 
boy,  and  left  him  alone. 

Supper-time  came,  and  the  father  and  mother 
sat  down  to  eat.  But  they  couldn't  eat  for  think- 
ing of  their  son.  The  longer  they  chewed  on  the 
food  the  bigger  and  drier  it  got  in  their  mouths. 
And  swallowing  was  clear  out  of  the  question. 
And  the  mother  said,  "  Why  don't  you  eat  ?"  And 
he  said  softly,  "Why  don't  you  eat?"  And,  with 
a  catch  in  her  throat,  she  said,  "I  can't,  for 
thinking  of  Phil."  And  he  said,  "That's  what's 
bothering  me." 

And  they  rose  from  the  supper-table,  and  went 
into  the  sitting-room.  He  took  up  the  evening 
paper,  and  she  began  sewing.  His  eyesight  was 
not  very  good.  He  wore  glasses,  and  to-night 
they  seemed  to  blur  up.  He  couldn't  see  the 
print  distinctly.  It  must  have  been  the  glasses, 
of  course.  So  he  took  them  off,  and  wiped  them 
with  great  care,  and  then  found  the  paper  was  up- 
side-down. And  she  tried  to  sew.  But  the  thread 
broke,  and  she  couldn't  seem  to  get  the  thread  into 


2  8      Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

the  needle  again.  How  we  all  reveal  ourselves  in 
just  such  details! 

By  and  by  the  clock  struck  ten,  their  usual  hour 
of  retiring.  But  they  made  no  move  to  go.  And 
the  mother  said  quietly, "  Aren't  you  going  to  bed  ?  " 
And  he  said,  "I'm  not  sleepy,  I  think  I'll  sit  up  a 
while  longer;  you  go."  ''No,  I  guess  I'll  wait 
a  while  too."  And  the  clock  struck  eleven;  then 
the  hands  clicked  around  close  to  twelve.  And 
they  arose,  and  went  to  bed;  but  not  to  sleep. 
Each  one  pretended  to  be  asleep.  And  each 
knew  the  other  was  not  asleep. 

After  a  bit  she  said — woman  is  always  the 
keener — ''Why  don't  you  sleep?"  And  he  said 
softly, ' '  How  did  you  know  I  wasn'  t  sleeping  ?  Why 
don't  you  sleep?"  And  she  said,  with  that  same 
queer  catch  in  her  voice,  "I  can't,  for  thinking 
of  Phil."  He  said,  "  That's  the  bother  with  me." 
And  the  clock  struck  one;  and  then  two;  still 
no  sleep.  At  last  the  father  said,  "Mother,  I 
can't  stand  this.     Pin  going  upstairs  with  Phil.^^ 

And  he  took  his  pillow,  and  went  softly  out 
of  the  room;  climbed  the  attic  steps  softly,  and 
pressed  the  latch  softly  so  as  not  to  wake  the  boy 
if  he  were  asleep,  and  tiptoed  across  to  the  corner 
by  the  window.  There  the  boy  lay,  wide-awake, 
with  something  glistening  in  his  eyes,  and  what 
looked  like  stains  on  his  cheeks.  And  the  father 
got  down  between  the  sheets,  and  they  got  their 
arms  around  each  other's  necks,  for  they  had  al- 
ways been  the  best  of  friends,  and  their  tears  got 
mixed  up  on  each  other's  cheeks— you  couldn't 


The  Master  Passion  29 

have  told  which  were  the  father's  and  which  the 
son's.  Then  they  slept  together  until  the  morn- 
ing light  broke. 

When  sleep-time  came  the  second  night  the 
father  said,  "  Good-night,  mother.  I'm  going  up 
with  Phil  again."  And  the  second  night  he 
shared  his  boy's  punishment  in  the  attic.  And 
the  third  night  when  sleep-time  came  again,  again 
he  said,  "Mother,  good-night.  I'm  going  up  with 
the  boy."  And  the  third  night  he  shared  his 
son's  punishment  with  him. 

That  boy,  now  a  man  grown,  in  the  thews  of 
his  strength,  my  acquaintance  told  me,  is  telling 
the  story  of  Jesus  with  tongue  of  flame  and  life  of 
flame  out  in  the  heart  of  China. 

Do  you  know,  I  think  that  is  the  best  picture  of 
God  I  have  ever  run  across  in  any  gallery  of  life  ? 
It  is  not  a  perfect  picture.  No  human  picture  of 
God  is  perfect,  except  of  course  the  Jesus  human 
picture.  The  boy's  punishment  was  arbitrarily 
chosen  by  the  father,  unlike  God's  dealings  with 
our  sin.  But  it  is  the  tenderest  and  most  real  of 
any  that  has  come  to  me. 

God  couldn't  take  away  sin.  It's  here.  Very 
plainly  it  is  here.  And  He  couldn't  take  away 
sufiFering,  out  of  kindness  to  us.  For  suffering  is 
sin's  index-finger  pointing  out  danger.  It  is  sin's 
voice  calling  loudly,  "Look  out!  there's  something 
wrong."  So  He  came  down  in  the  person  of 
His  Son,  Jesus,  and  lay  down  alongside  of  man 
for  three  days  and  nights,  in  the  place  where  sin 
drove  man. 


3  o     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

That's  God!  And  that  suggests  graphically 
the  great  passion  of  His  heart.  Sin  was  not 
ignored.  Its  Hnes  stood  sharply  out.  The  boy 
in  the  garret  had  two  things  burned  into  his 
memory,  never  to  be  erased:  the  wrong  of  his 
own  sin,  and  the  strength  of  his  father's  love. 

Jesus  is  God  coming  down  into  our  midst  and 
giving  His  own  very  life,  and  then,  more,  giving 
it  out  in  death,  that  He  might  make  us  hate  sin, 
and  might  woo  and  win  the  whole  world,  away 
from  sin,  back  to  the  intimacies  of  the  old  family 
circle  again. 

On  a  Wooing  Errand. 

Jesus  was  a  mirror  held  up  to  the  Father's 
face  for  man  to  look  in.  So  we  may  know  what 
the  Father  is  like.  When  you  look  at  Jesus 
and  listen  to  Him  you  are  looking  into  the 
Father's  heart  and  listening  to  its  warm  throbbing. 
And  no  one  can  look  there  without  being  caught 
by  the  great  passion  burning  there,  and  feeling  its 
intense  soft-burning  glow,  and  carrying  some  of  it 
for  ever  after  in  his  own  heart. 

Jesus  was  on  a  wooing  errand  to  the  earth. 
The  whole  spirit  of  His  dealings  with  men  was 
that  of  a  great  lover,  wooing  them  to  the  Father. 
He  was  insistently  eager  to  let  men  know  what 
His  Father  was  Hke.  He  seemed  jealous  of  His 
Father's  reputation  among  men.  It  had  been 
slandered  badly.  Men  misunderstood  the  Father. 
He  would  leave  no  stone  unturned  to  let  men 
know  how  good  and  loving  and  winsome   God 


The  Master  Passion  31 

is.  For  then  they  would  eagerly  run  back  home 
again  to  Him.  This  was  His  method  of  ap- 
proach to  the  world  He  came  to  win. 

Jesus  is  the  greatest  wooer  the  old  world  has 
ever  known,  and  will  be  the  greatest  winner  of 
what  He  is  after,  too.  Run  thoughtfully  through 
these  Gospels,  and  stand  by  Jesus'  side  in  each 
one  of  these  simple,  tremendous  incidents  of  His 
contact  with  the  common  people.  Then  listen 
anew  to  His  teaching  talks,  so  homely  and  so 
gripping.  And  the  impression  becomes  irresist- 
ible that  the  one  thought  that  gripped  at  every 
turn,  never  forgotten,  was  to  woo  man  back  to  the 
Father's  allegiance. 

Jesus'  World- passion. 

Have  you  not  marked  the  world-wide  swing  of 
Jesus'  thought  and  plan  ?  It  is  stupendous  in  its 
freshness  and  bold  daring.  The  bigness  of  His 
idea  of  the  thing  to  be  done  is  immense.  To  use 
a  favorite  phrase  of  to-day,  He  had  a  world-con- 
sciousness. It  is  hard  for  us  to  realize  what  a 
startling  thing  His  world-consciousness  was.  We 
are  so  famihar  with  the  Gospels  that  we  lose 
much  of  their  force  through  mere  rote  of 
famiharity. 

It  takes  a  determined  effort,  and  the  fresh  touch 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  too,  to  have  them  come  with  all 
the  freshness  of  a  new  book.  And  then  we  have 
gotten  sort  of  used  in  our  day,  and  in  our  part  of 
the  world  especially,  to  talking  about  world-wide 
entorprises. 


3  2     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

We  don't  realize  what  a  stupendous  thing  a 
world-consciousness  was  in  Jesus'  day.  He  cer- 
tainly did  not  get  it  from  His  own  generation; 
not  from  the  Jews.  It  stands  out  in  keen  con- 
trast to  their  ideas.  They  lived  within  very  nar- 
row alleyways.  They  supposed  they  were  the 
favorites  of  God;  and  everybody  else — dogs^ 
and  damned  dogs,  too;  not  in  the  profane  usage, 
but  actually. 

But  Jesus  thought  of  a  worlds  and  yearned  for  a 
world.  The  words  "world"  and  "earth"  are 
constantly  on  His  lips.  He  said  He  came  "into 
the  world;"  not  to  Palestine;  that  was  only  the 
door  He  used  for  entrance.  It  was  from  Him 
that  John  learned,  what  he  wrote  down,  that  He 
was  to  "lighten  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world.' ^ 

To  the  Jewish  senator  of  the  inner  national 
circle  He  said  plainly  in  that  great  sentence  that 
contains  the  gist  of  the  whole  Bible — John,  three, 
sixteen — that  it  was  a  world  he  was  after.  A 
saved  world  was  the  one  purpose  of  His  errand  to 
the  earth.  He  had  come  to  " save  the  world,''  ^  and 
would  stop  at  nothing  short  of  giving  His  very 
self  "for  the  life  of  the  world." 

He  tells  His  own  inner  circle  that  "the  field"  is 
a  world.  And  that  it  is  to  be  won  by  the  means  He 
Himself  was  using;  namely,  men,  human  beings, 
"sons  of  the  kingdom"'  were  to  be  sown  as  seed 
all  over  its  vast  extent. 

»  John  3:17. 

*  Matthew  13:38. 


The  Master  Passion  33 

You  remember,  that  last  week,  the  request  of 
the  Greeks  for  an  interview  ?^  The  outside  non- 
Jewish  world  came  to  Him  in  the  visit  and 
earnest  request  of  those  Greeks.  And  His  whole 
being  became  greatly  agitated.  It  was  as  when 
one,  at  last,  after  years  of  labor  without  any 
seeming  success,  gets  a  first  faint  gHmpse  of  the 
results  he  longs  so  earnestly  for.  Here  was  a 
touch,  a  glimpse  of  the  very  thing  on  which  His 
heart  was  so  set.  The  great  outside  world  was 
coming  to  Him. 

The  realization  of  its  tremendous  meaning,  the 
sure  promise  it  held  of  the  day  when  all  the  world 
would  he  coming  seems  to  set  Him  all  a-tremble 
with  intensest  emotion.  The  delight  of  the  possi- 
ble realizing  of  His  hfe-dream,  His  earth  errand, 
and  yet  the  terrific  conviction  that  only  by  travel- 
ling the  red  road  of  the  cross  could  that  world  be 
won,  made  a  fierce  conflict  within.  It  was  the 
world-vision  that  agitated  Him. 

And  it  was  that  same  world-vision  that  held  Him 
steady.  He  would  not  scatter.  By  concentrating 
all  in  one  act  He  would  generate  and  set  off  a 
dynamic  power  on  Calvary  that  would  shake  and 
then  shape  a  world.  The  knowledge  that  all  men 
would  be  irresistibly  drawn  by  the  loadstone  of 
the  cross  steadied  His  steps. 

A  few  days  later,  as  He  sat  resting  a  bit,  on  the 
side  of  the  Hill  of  Olivet,  the  disciples  earnestly 
ask  for  some  idea  of  His  plan.  And  He  explains 
that  the   Gospel  was  to  be  "preached  to  the 

*  John  12:20-33. 
3 


3  4     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

whole  inhabited  earih.^'^  That  conception  was 
never  out  of  His  mind.    How  could  it  be! 

But  the  great  purpose  and  passion  of  His  life 
stands  out  most  sharply  in  the  words  of  that  last 
imperial  command.  He  shows  the  whole  of  His 
heart  in  that  stirring  *'  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and 
make  disciples  of  all  the  nations^';  "preach  the 
gospel  to  the  whole  creation y  The  passion  of 
Jesus'  heart  was  to  win  the  world.  And  that 
passion  has  grown  intenser  in  waiting.  To-day 
more  than  ever  the  one  passion  of  yonder  en- 
throned Man  is  to  win  His  world.  Everything 
else  bends  to  that  with  Him.  Nothing  less  will 
satisfy  His  heart. 

Now,  the  God-touched  man  is  always  swayed  by 
the  same  purpose  and  passion  as  sway  God.  The 
passion  of  every  God-touched  man,  fresh  from 
direct  contact  with  Him,  is  to  win  the  whole  world 
up  to  God.  Everything  will  be  held  under  the 
strong  thumb  of  this,  and  made  to  fit  and  bend 
and  blend  into  it. 

>  Matthew  34:14. 


THE  MASTER'S  PLAN 


Will  the  World  Be  Won  ? 

Some  Bad  Drifts. 

Great  Incidental  Blessings. 

The  World  Really  Lost. 

God's  Method  of  Saving. 

The  Programme  of  World-winning. 

Early  Moorings. 

Service  Unites. 

The  World-winning  Climb. 


The   Plan 


Will  the  World  Be  Won? 

The  great  passion  of  God's  heart  is  a  love- 
passion.  Love  never  fails.  It  waits  and,  if  need 
be,  waits  long;  but  it  never  fails  to  get  what  it  is 
waiting  for.  Love  sacrifices;  though  it  never 
uses  that  word.  It  doesn't  know  it  is  sacrificing, 
it  is  so  absorbed  in  its  gripping  purpose.  There 
may  be  keen-cutting  pain,  but  it  is  clean  forgotten 
in  the  passion  that  burns  within.  God  means  to 
win  His  world  of  men  back  home  to  Himself. 

But  some  earnest  friend  is  thinking  of  an  ob- 
jection to  all  this  talk  about  a  world  being  won. 
You  are  taken  aU  anew  with  the  great  picture 
of  God's  passion  of  love  in  the  opening  page  of 
this  old  Book.  But  all  the  time  we  have  been 
talking  together  you  have  been  having  a  cross- 
cutting  train  of  thought  underneath.  It  has 
been  saying,  "Isn't  this  going  a  bit  too  far?  wiU 
the  whole  world  be  won?" 

Let  us  talk  over  that  a  bit.  We  have  been 
used  all  our  lives  to  hearing  about  soul-winning. 
We  have  been  urged,  more  or  less,  to  do  it.  A 
favorite  motto  in  some  Christian  workers'  con- 
vention has  been,  "Win  one."     But  this  idea  of 

37 


3  8      Quiet  Talks  Wi  th  World  Winners 

winning  the  world  has  not  been  preached.  At 
first  it  doesn't  seem  exactly  orthodox. 

The  old-time  preaching,  of  which  not  so  much 
is  heard  now,  except  in  restricted  quarters,  is  that 
the  whole  world  is  lost;  and  that  we  are  to  save 
people  out  of  it.  We  used  to  be  told  that  the 
world  is  bad,  and  only  bad;  bad  beyond  redemp- 
tion, and  doomed.  In  his  earlier  years  Mr. 
Moody  used  to  say  often  with  his  great  earnest- 
ness that  this  was  a  doomed  world,  and  that  the 
great  business  of  life  was  to  save  men  out  of  it. 

But  of  late  years  there  has  been  a  distinct  swing 
away  from  this  sort  of  preaching  and  talking. 
Everything  we  humans  do  seems  to  go  by  the 
clock  movement,  the  pendulum  swing:  first  one 
side,  then  the  other.  Now  we  hear  a  very  dif- 
ferent sort  of  preaching.  This  is  really  a  good 
world.  There  is  some  wickedness  in  it,  to  be 
sure.  Indeed,  there  is  quite  a  great  deal  of  it. 
But  in  the  main  it  is  not  a  bad  world,  we're  told. 

The  old-time  preaching  was  chiefly  concerned 
with  getting  ready  for  heaven.  Now  it  is  con- 
cerned, for  most  part,  with  living  pure,  true  lives 
right  here  on  the  earth.  And  that  change  is 
surely  a  good  one.  But  it  is  also  the  common 
thing  to  be  told  that  the  world  is  not  nearly  so  bad 
as  we  have  been  led  to  believe. 

Some  Bad  Drifts. 

It  is  striking  that  with  that  has  come  a  change 
of  talk  about  sin,  the  thing  that  was  supposed  to 
be  responsible  for  making  the  world  so  bad.     Sin 


The  Plan  39 

is  not  such  a  damnable  thing  now,  apparently. 
It  is  largely  constitutional  weakness,  or  prenatal 
predilection,  or  the  idiosyncrasy  of  individuality. 
(Big  words  are  in  favor  here.  They  always  make 
such  talk  seem  wise  and  plausible.)  Heaven 
has  slipped  largely  out  of  view;  and — hell,  too, 
even  more.  Churchmen  in  the  flush  of  phenom- 
enal material  prosperity,  with  full  stomachs  and 
luxurious  homes  and  pews,  are  well  content  with 
things  as  they  are  in  this  present  world,  and  don't 
propose  to  move. 

And  with  that  it  is  easy  to  believe  what  we  are 
freely  told,  that  there  is  really  no  need  of  giving 
our  Christian  religion  to  the  heathen  world. 
Those  peoples  have  religions  of  their  own  that  are 
remarkably  good.  At  least  they  are  satisfactory 
to  them.  Why  disturb  them?  They  are  doing 
very  well.  This  talk  about  their  being  lost,  and 
needing  a  Savior,  is  reckoned  out  of  date.  The 
old  common  statements  about  so  many  thousands 
dying  daily,  and  going  out  into  a  lost  eternity,  are 
not  Kked.  They  are  called  lurid.  And,  indeed, 
they  are  not  used  nearly  so  much  now  as  once. 

This  swing  away  has  had  a  great  influence  upon 
the  mass  of  church-members,  and  upon  their 
whole  thought  of  the  foreign-mission  enterprise. 
There  is  a  vaguely  expressed,  but  distinctly  felt 
idea  both  in  the  Church  and  outside  of  it,  for  the 
two  seem  to  overlap  as  never  before — that  the  send- 
ing of  missionaries  is  really  not  to  save  peoples  from 
being  lost.    That  sort  of  talk  is  almost  vulgar  now. 

Mission  work  is  really  a  sort  of  good-natured 


40     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

neighborliness.  It  is  benevolent  humanitarian- 
ism  in  which  we  may  all  help,  more  or  less  (usu- 
ally less),  regardless  of  our  beliefs  or  lack  of 
beliefs,  our  church-membership  or  attendance. 
We  should  show  these  heathen  our  improved 
methods  of  living.  We  have  worked  out  better 
plans  of  housekeeping  and  schooling,  of  teaching 
and  doctoring,  and  farming  and  all  the  rest  of  it. 
And  now  we  want  to  help  these  poor  deficient 
peoples  across  the  seas. 

We  think  we  are  a  superior  people  in  our- 
selves, as  well  as  in  our  type  of  civilization,  de- 
cidedly so.  And  having  taken  good  care  of  our- 
selves, and  laid  up  a  good  snug  sum,  we  can 
easily  afford  to  help  these  backward  far-away 
neighbors  a  bit.     It  is  really  the  thing  to  do. 

Such  seems  to  be  the  general  drift  of  much  of 
the  present-day  talk  about  foreign  missions.  The 
Church,  and  its  members  individually,  have  grown 
so  rich  that  we  have  forgotten  that  we  were  ever 
poor.  The  table  is  so  loaded  with  dainties  that 
we  are  quite  willing  to  be  generous  with  the  crumbs, 
even  cake  crumbs. 

Great  Incidental  Blessings. 

Now,  without  doubt  the  sending  of  the  mis- 
sionaries has  vastly  improved  conditions  of  hu- 
man life  in  the  foreign-mission  lands.  The 
missionaries  have  been  the  forerunners  of  great 
improvements.  They  have  been  the  pioneers 
blazing  out  the  paths  along  which  both  trade  and 
diplomacy  have  gone  with  the  newer  and  better 


The  Plan  41 

civilization  of  the  West.  Civilization  has  de- 
veloped marvellously  in  the  western  half  of  the 
world.  And  the  missionaries  have  been  its 
advance  agents  into  the  stagnant  East,  and  the 
savage  wilds  of  the  southern  hemisphere. 

Full,  accurate  knowledge  of  nature's  resources 
and  laws,  and  adaptation  of  that  knowledge  to 
practical  uses,  have  been  among  the  most  marked 
conditions  of  the  westei;n  world  during  the  past 
century.  And,  as  a  result,  education,  medical  and 
hygienic  and  sanitary  science,  development  of  the 
earth's  soil,  and  resources  above  and  below  the 
soil,  have  gone  forward  by  immense  strides. 
So  far  as  is  known,  our  progress  in  such  matters 
exceeds  all  previous  achievements  in  the  history 
of  the  race. 

And  some  of  all  this  has  been  seeping  into  the 
heathen  world.  It  hasn't  gotten  in  far  yet; 
only  into  the  top  soil,  and  about  the  edges,  so  far. 
The  progress  in  this  regard  has  seemed  both 
rapid  and  slow.  When  the  great  mass  of  these 
peoples  have  not  yet  gotten  even  a  whiff  of  the 
purer,  better  civilization  air  of  the  western  nations 
the  progress  seems  slow.  But  when  we  remem- 
ber the  incalculably  tremendous  inertia,  and  the 
strangely  stagnant  spirit  of  heathen  lands,  it 
seems  rapid. 

The  effort  to  get  the  heathen  world  simply  to 
clean  up;  to  open  the  windows  and  let  in  some 
fresh  air,  and  use  plain  soap  and  water  to  scrub 
off  the  actual  dirt  makes  one  think  of  the  typical 
small  boy's  disHke  of  being  washed  up.     It  has 


4  2      Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

been  a  hard  job.  Yet  a  great  beginning  has  beea 
made.  The  boy  seems  to  be  beginning  to  find 
out  that  his  face  is  dirty,  and  feels  dirty.  And 
that  is  an  enormous  gain. 

The  World  Really  Lost. 

Yet  while  this  is  good,  and  only  good,  it  isn't 
the  thing  we  are  driving  at  in  missions.  While 
it  would  fully  warrant  aU  the  expenditures  of 
money,  and  vastly  more  than  has  yet  been  given, 
it  should  be  said  in  clearest,  most  ringing  tones 
that  all  this  is  merely  incidental.  It  is  blessed. 
It  is  sure  to  come.  It  is  remarkable  that  it  always 
has  come  where  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  is  preached. 

Yet  this  is  not  the  thing  aimed  at  in  missions. 
The  one  driving  purpose  is  to  carry  to  men  a 
Saviour  from  sin.  And  to  take  Him  so  earnestly 
and  winsomely  that  men  yonder  shall  be  wooed 
and  won  to  the  real  God,  whom  they  have  lost 
knowledge  of. 

It  cannot  be  said  too  plainly  that  the  world  is 
lost.  It  has  strayed  so  far  away  from  the  Father's 
house  that  it  has  lost  all  its  bearings,  and  can't 
find  its  way  back  without  help.  The  old  preach- 
ing that  this  is  a  lost  world,  is  true. 

But  we  need  to  remember  the  different  uses  of 
that  word  "world."  In  the  old-time  conception 
it  was  used  in  a  loose  way  as  meaning  the  spirit 
that  actuates  men  in  the  world.  The  scheme  of 
selfishness  and  wickedness  and  sinfulness  which 
has  overcast  all  life  is  commonly  spoken  of  in 
the  Bible  as  the  world  spirit.     In  that  sense  the 


The  Plan  43 

world  is  bad,  and  only  bad.  Men  are  to  be 
saved  out  of  it,  as  Moody  said. 

But,  in  the  other  commoner  use  of  it,  that  word 
"world"  simply  means  the  whole  race  of  men. 
And  we  must  remind  ourselves  \igorously  of  the 
plain  truth  that  this  is  a  lost  world.  That  is  to 
say,  men  have  gotten  away  from  God.  They 
completely  misunderstand  Him.  Then  they  do 
more,  and  worse,  they  misrepresent  and  slander 
Him.  The  result  is  complete  lack  of  trust  in 
Him.  They  have  lost  their  moorings,  and 
have  drifted  out  to  deep  sea  with  no  compass  on 
board.  Thick  fogs  have  risen  and  shut  out  sun 
and  stars  and  every  guiding  thing.  They  are 
hopelessly  and  helplessly  lost,  and  need  some 
one  to  bring  the  compass  so  as  to  get  back  to 
shore,  back  home  to  God. 

But  this  world  of  men  is  to  be  won.  Jesus 
said  He  came  to  save  a  world.  And  He  will  not 
fail  nor  rest  content  until  He  has  done  it,  and  this 
has  become  a  saved  world.  He  said  that  He  gave 
His  Ufe  for  the  life  of  the  world.  And  the  world 
will  yet  know  the  fulness  of  that  life  of  His 
throbbing  in  its  own  heart. 

This  does  not  mean  that  aU  men  will  be  saved. 
There  seems  to  be  clear  evidence  in  the  Book 
that  some  will  insist  on  preferring  tlieir  own  way 
to  God's.  And  I  am  sure  I  do  not  know  any- 
thing except  what  the  Book  teaches.  It  is  the 
only  reliable  source  of  information  I  have  been 
able  to  find  so  far.  It  must  be  the  standard, 
because  it  is  the  standard. 


44      Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

There  will  be  a  group  of  stubborn  irreconcil- 
ables  holding  out  against  all  of  God's  tender 
pleading.  John's  Patmos  vision  of  glory,  with  its 
marvellous  beauty  and  sweep,  has  yet  a  lake  of 
fire  and  a  group  of  men  insisting  upon  going 
their  own  way.  If  a  man  choose  that  way,  he 
may.  He  is  still  in  the  likeness  of  God  in  choos- 
ing to  leave  out  God.  He  remains  a  sovereign 
in  his  own  will  even  in  the  hell  of  his  own  choosing. 

God's  Method  of  Saving. 

The  method  of  saving  is  by  winning.  The 
Father  would  not  be  content  with  anything  else. 
Such  a  thing  as  might  be  represented  by  throwing 
a  blanket  over  the  head  of  a  horse  in  a  burning 
stable,  and  so  getting  it  out  by  coaxing,  and  forc- 
ing, and  hiding  the  danger,  is  not  to  be  thought 
of  here.  Sin  is  never  smoothed  over  by  God,  nor 
its  results,  their  badness  and  their  certainty. 

He  would  have  us  see  the  sin  as  ugly  and  damn- 
ing as  it  actually  is,  and  see  Him  as  pure  and  holy 
and  winsome  as  He  is;  and  then  to  reject  the 
sin  and  choose  Himself.  The  method  of  much 
modern  charity,  the  long-range  charity  that  helps 
by  organization,  without  the  personal  relation 
and  warm  touch,  is  unknown  to  God.  He 
touches  every  man  directly  with  His  own  warm 
heart,  and  appeals  to  Him  at  closest  quarters. 

Man's  highest  power  is  his  power  of  choosing. 
It  is  in  that  He  is  most  like  God.  God's  plan  is 
to  clear  away  the  clouds,  sweep  down  the  cobwebs 
that  bother  our  eyes  so,  and  let  us  get  such  a  look 


The  Plan  45 

at  Himself  that  we  will  be  caught  with  the  sight 
of  His  great  face,  and  choose  to  come,  and  to 
come  a-running  back  to  Himself.  The  world 
will  be  saved  by  its  own  choosing  to  be.  It  will 
be  saved  by  being  won.  Men  will  choose  to  leave 
sin  and  accept  God's  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

It  is  a  great  method.  It  is  the  only  method 
God  could  use.  The  creative  love-passion  of  His 
heart  was  that  we  should  choose  Himself  in  pref- 
erence to  all  else,  and  choose  life  with  Him  up  on 
His  level  as  the  only  life. 

And  the  method  of  winning  is  by  getting  each 
man's  consent.  The  old  cry  of  soul-winning  is 
the  true  cry.  It  tells  the  method  of  work  for  us  to 
follow.  Each  man  is  to  be  won  by  his  own  free 
glad  consent.  There  is  to  be  no  wholesaling  ex- 
cept by  retailing.  In  business  the  wholesale  comes 
after  the  retail.  It  is  the  child  and  servant  of 
the  retail. 

Here  the  method  is  to  be  one  by  one;  and  the 
results,  a  great  multitude  beyond  the  power  of  any 
arithmetic  to  count.  Soul-winning  is  the  method, 
and  world-winning  is  the  object  and  the  final 
result. 

The  Programme  of  World-winning. 

There  is  a  programme  of  world-winning  repeat- 
edly outHned  in  this  old  Book  of  God.  That  pro- 
gramme has  not  always  been  clearly  understood. 
Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  for  the  most  part  it  has 
been  misunderstood,  and  still  is  by  many.  And, 
as  a  result,   many    churchmen  have    lost  their 


46     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

bearings,  and  strayed  far  from  the  Master's  plan 
for  their  own  lives  and  service.  It  helps  greatly  to 
get  the  programme  clear  in  mind,  so  we  can  steer 
a  straight  course,  and  not  get  confused  nor  lost. 

The  first  item  of  that  programme  is  world-wide 
evangelization.  That  is  the  great  service  and 
privilege  committed  to  the  Church,  and  to  every 
Christian,  for  this  present  time.  Every  other 
service  is  second  to  this.  This  does  not  mean 
world-wide  conversion.  That  comes  later.  It 
does  mean  a  full,  winsome  telling  of  the  story  of 
Jesus'  Gospel,  to  all  nations  and  to  aU  men. 

It  means  the  doing  of  it  by  all  sorts  of  helpful, 
sensible  means;  the  hospital  and  medical  dis- 
pensary, the  school  and  college,  the  printed 
page,  and  the  practical  helping  of  men  in  every 
way  that  they  can  be  helped.  Above  all,  it  means 
the  warm,  sympathetic,  brotherly  touch.  Not 
simply  by  preaching;  that  surely,  but  in  addition 
to  that  the  practical  preaching  of  the  Gospel  by 
aU  of  these  means. 

When  that  has  been  accomplished  the  Kingdom 
will  come.  The  King  will  come,  and  with  Him 
the  Kingdom.  There  will  be  radical  changes  in 
all  the  moral  conditions  of  the  earth.  It  will  be 
a  time  of  greatly  increased  evangelization,  and  of 
conversions  of  people  in  immense  numbers.  It 
will  seem  as  if  all  were  giving  glad  allegiance  to 
Jesus  the  King.  The  world  will  then  seem  to  be 
indeed  a  won  world. 

But  there  will  be  many  who  have  simply  been 
swung  into  line  outwardly  by  the  general  move- 


The  Plan  47 

ment  among  the  mass  of  peoples,  just  as  it  always 
is.  And  our  King  wants  whole-hearted  love 
and  service. 

And  so,  at  the  end  of  the  kingdom  period,  there 
wUl  come  another  crisis.  It  is  spoken  of  by 
John  in  his  Revelation  vision^  as  a  loosing  of 
Satan,  and  a  renewal  of  his  activity  among  men. 
That  used  to  puzzle  me  a  good  bit.  I  wondered 
why,  when  that  foul  fiend  had  once  been  securely 
fastened  up,  he  should  be  loosed  again.  But  I'm 
satisfied  that  the  reason  is  that  at  the  end  of  the 
Kingdom  time  there  is  to  be  full  opportunity  for 
those  who  are  not  at  heart  loyal  to  Jesus,  and  who 
simply  bow  to  Him  because  the  crowd  is  doing  so, 
to  be  perfectly  free  to  do  and  go  as  they  choose. 

Jesus  wants  a  heart  allegiance,  and  only  that. 
The  great  thing  is  that  every  man  shall  freely 
choose  as  he  really  prefers.  This  it  is  that  both 
makes  and  reveals  character.  And  so  there  will 
be  a  final  crisis.  All  who  at  heart  prefer  to  do  so 
may  swing  away  from  Jesus. 

That  crisis  ends  with  the  final  and  overwhelm- 
ing defeat  of  Satan  and  all  the  forces  of  evil. 
He  goes  to  his  own  place,  the  place  he  has  chosen 
and  made  for  himself;  and  all  who  prefer  to 
leave  God  out  will  go  by  the  moral  gravitation  of 
their  own  choice  to  that  place  with  him. 

Then  follows  the  full  vision  of  a  won  world, 
which  John  pictures  in  such  glowing  colors  in  these 
last  two  chapters  of  Revelation,  as  a  city  come 
down  from  God  out  of  heaven. 
*  Revelation  30:7-8. 


4  8     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

Early  Moorings. 

There  are  two  leading  passages  that  speak  of 
this  programme.  You  remember  that  during  the 
last  week  of  His  life  Jesus  told  His  disciples  of  the 
fall  of  Jerusalem.  They  came  earnestly  asking 
for  fuller  information  regarding  the  future  events. 
They  asked  when  the  present  period  of  time 
would  come  to  an  end.  And  in  answering  He 
said — and  the  answer  became  a  pivotal  passage 
around  which  much  else  swings — that  the  Gospel 
of  the  Kingdom  would  be  preached  in  the  whole 
inhabited  earth  for  a  testimony  unto  all  nations. 
And  then  the  end  of  the  present  age  or  period  of 
time  would  come.* 

The  first  council  of  the  Christian  Church  was 
held  as  a  result  of  the  remarkable  success  attend- 
ing the  beginning  of  world-wide  evangelization. 
It  was  held  in  Jerusalem  to  consider  the  serious 
question  of  what  to  do  with  the  great  multitude  of 
foreign  or  Gentile  converts. 

The  Church  had  been  practically  a  Jewish 
church.  But  Paul  had  commenced  his  remark- 
able series  of  world-wide  preaching- tours.  Great 
numbers  of  the  outside  peoples  had  accepted 
Christ,  and  been  organized  into  Christian  churches. 
Some  of  the  Jewish  Church  in  Jerusalem  thought 
that  all  of  these  should  become  Jewish  in  their 
observance  of  the  old  Mosaic  requirements.  Both 
Paul  and  Peter,  the  two  great  church  leaders,  ob- 
ject to  this. 

»  Matthew  24:14. 


The  Plan  49 

It  is  at  the  close  of  the  conference  that  James, 
who  was  presiding,  outHnes  in  his  decision  the 
programme  of  world-winning  of  which  we  are 
talking  together/  He  quotes  from  the  prophecy 
of  Joel.  He  says  there  are  to  be  three  steps  or 
stages  in  working  out  God's  plan. 

First  of  all  is  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  to  all  the  nations,  in  which  work  Paul  had 
been  so  earnestly  engaged,  and  the  remarkable 
success  of  which  it  was  that  had  given  rise  to  the 
whole  discussion.  When  this  has  been  com- 
pleted the  kingdom  is  to  be  estabhshed  with  the 
nation  of  Israel  in  the  central  place,  the  tabernacle 
of  David  set  up,  as  he  quotes  it.  The  purpose  of 
this  is  that  all  the  rest  of  the  peoples  on  the  earth, 
all  the  nations,  "  may  seek  after  the  Lord." 

The  purpose  of  the  Kingdom  is  the  same,  in  the 
main,  as  is  now  the  purpose  of  the  Church.  It 
is  to  push  forward  on  broader  lines,  and  more 
vigorously  than  ever,  the  work  of  bringing  all 
men  back  to  the  Father's  house. 

There  are  many  other  passages  that  might  be 
referred  to,  but  these  will  answer  our  purpose 
just  now.  There  is  to  be  a  won  world,  and  the 
old  Book  outlines  plainly  just  how  and  when  it 
will  be  won. 

Service  Unites. 

Now,  I  know  that  all  ministers  and  Christian 
teachers  are  not  agreed  about  this.  There  has 
been  a  controversy  in  the  Church,  both  long  aad 

*  Acts  15:13-18. 


50     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

sometimes  bitter,  unfortunately,  about  the  Lord's 
return  and  the  setting  up  of  the  Kingdom.  And  I 
have  no  desire  to  take  any  part  in  that,  but  in- 
stead, a  strong  desire  to  keep  out  of  it.  There 
is  too  much  pressing  emergency  among  men  for 
helpful  service  to  spend  any  time  or  strength  in 
controversy. 

In  a  word  it  may  be  put  this  way.  There  are 
those  who  believe  that  Jesus*  coming  is  a  thing 
to  be  expected  as  likely  to  occur  at  any  time,  or 
within  our  lifetime,  within  any  generation. 
His  coming  is  to  be  the  beginning  of  the  King- 
dom period,  when  all  peoples  will  be  loyal  to 
Him. 

The  others  believe  that  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  will  bring  the  whole  world  into  allegiance, 
and  that  will  be  the  Kingdom,  and  then  Jesus  will 
return.  Both  agree  fully  that  the  thing  to  be 
desired,  and  that  will  come,  is  the  world-wide 
acknowledgment  of  Jesus  as  Saviour  and  King. 

It  may  be  added,  however,  that  of  later  years 
there  is  a  third  great  group  in  the  Church,  which 
is  really  the  largest  of  the  three.  These  people 
practically  ignore  the  teaching  about  an  actual 
return  of  Jesus  to  the  earth.  They  beheve  that 
He  has  akeady  come,  and  is  continually  coming 
in  the  higher  ideals,  the  better  standards,  and 
nobler  spirit  that  pervade  society. 

If  it  be  true  that  the  present  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  is  to  result  in  winning  the  whole  world  at 
once,  without  waiting  for  this  programme  of  which 
I  have  spoken,  then  there  is  in  that  a  very  strong 


The  Plan  51 

argument  for  world-wide  evangelization.  For 
only  so  can  the  desired  result  be  secured.  And 
so  we  can  heartily  join  hands  together  in  service 
regardless  of  what  we  believe  on  this  question. 
I  make  a  rule  not  to  ask  a  man  on  which  side  of  the 
question  he  stands,  but  to  work  with  him  hand 
in  hand  so  far  as  I  can  in  spreading  the  glad  good 
news  of  Jesus  ever)rwhere. 

The  difference  of  view  regarding  the  Lord's 
return  need  not  affect  the  practical  working  to- 
gether of  all  earnest  men.  We  are  perfectly 
agreed  that  the  great  thing  is  to  have  the  story  of 
Jesus'  dying  and  rising  again  told  out  earnestly 
and  lovingly  to  all  men.  And  we  can  go  at  that 
with  greatest  heartiness,  side  by  side. 

The  great  concern  now  is  to  make  Jesus  fully 
known.  That  is  the  plan  for  the  present  time. 
It  is  a  simple  plan.  Men  who  have  been  won  are 
to  be  the  winners.  Nobody  else  can  be.  The 
warm  enthusiasm  of  grateful  love  must  burn  in 
the  heart  and  drive  all  the  life.  There  must 
be  simple,  but  thorough  organization. 

The  campaign  should  be  mapped  out  as  thor- 
oughly as  a  Presidential  campaign  is  organized 
here  in  our  country.  The  purpose  of  a  Presiden- 
tial campaign  is  really  stupendous  in  its  object  and 
sweep.  It  is  to  influence  quickly,  up  to  the  point 
of  decisive  action,  the  individual  opinion  of  mil- 
lions of  men,  spread  over  millions  of  square  miles, 
and  that,  too,  in  the  face  of  a  vigorous  opposing 
campaign  to  influence  them  the  other  way.  The 
whole   vast  district  of  country    is  mapped  out 


5  2     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

and  organized  on  broad  lines  and  into  the  small- 
est details. 

Strong  brainy  men  give  themselves  wholly  to 
the  task,  and  spend  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars  within  a  few  months.  And  then,  four 
years  later,  they  proceed  as  enthusiastically  as 
before  to  go  over  the  whole  ground  again.  We 
need  as  thorough  organizing,  as  aggressive  en- 
thusiasm, and  as  intelligent  planning  for  this 
great  task  which  our  Master  has  put  into  our 
hands. 

And  we  have  a  driving  motive  power  greater 
than  any  campaign-manager  ever  had  or  has — a 
Jesus  who  sets  fire  to  one's  whole  being,  with  a 
passion  of  love  that  burns  up  every  other  flame. 
We  need  a  Church  as  thoroughly  organized,  and 
every  man  in  it  with  a  burning  heart  for  this  great 
service. 

The  World-winning  Climb. 

An  old  school-master,  talking  to  his  class  one 
morning,  many  years  ago,  told  a  story  of  an  early 
experience  he  had  had  in  Europe.  He  was  one 
of  a  party  travelling  in  Switzerland.  They  had 
gotten  as  far  as  Chamounix,  and  were  planning 
to  climb  Mont  Blanc.  That  peak,  you  know,  is 
the  highest  of  the  Alps,  and  is  called  the  monarch 
of  European  mountains.  While  it  is  now  ascended 
every  day  in  season,  the  climb  is  a  very  difficult 
task. 

It  requires  strength  and  courage  and  much 
special  preparation;    and  is  still  attended  with 


The  Plan  53 

such  danger  that  the  authorities  of  Chamounix 
have  laid  down  rigid  regulations  for  those  who  at- 
tempt it.  One's  outfit  must  be  reduced  to  the 
very  lowest  limit.  And,  of  course,  nothing  else 
can  be  done  while  climbing.  It  absorbs  all  one's 
strength  and  thought. 

There  were  two  parties  in  the  little  square  of  the 
town,  making  their  preparations  with  the  guides. 
One  young  Englishman  disregarded  all  the  di- 
rections of  the  guides.  He  loaded  himself  with 
things  which  he  positively  declared  were  absolutely 
essential  to  his  plans. 

He  had  a  small  case  of  wine  and  some  delicacies 
for  his  appetite.  He  had  a  camera  with  which  he 
proposed  to  take  views  of  himself  and  his  party 
at  different  stages  of  the  cHmb.  He  had  a  batch 
of  note-books  in  which  he  intended  recording  his 
impressions  as  he  proceeded,  which  were  after- 
ward to  be  printed  for  the  information,  and,  he 
hoped,  admiration  of  the  world.  A  picturesque 
cap  and  a  gayly  colored  blanket  were  part  of  his 
outfit. 

The  old  toughened  guides,  experienced  by  many 
a  severe  tug  and  storm  in  the  difficulties  ahead, 
protested  earnestly.  But  it  made  no  impression 
on  the  ambitious  youth.  At  last  they  whispered 
together,  and  allowed  him  to  have  his  awn  way. 
And  the  party  started. 

Six  hours  later  the  second  party  followed.  At 
the  little  inn  where  they  spent  the  first  night 
they  found  the  wine  and  food  delicacies.  The 
guides  laughed.     "The   Englishman   has   found 


5  4     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

that  he  cannot  humor  his  stomach  if  he  would 
climb  Mont  Blanc,"  one  of  them  said  grimly. 
A  little  farther  up  they  found  the  note-book  and 
camera;  still  higher  up,  the  gay  robe  and  fancy 
cap  had  been  abandoned.  And  at  last  they  found 
the  young  fellow  at  the  summit  in  leather  jacket, 
exhausted  and  panting  for  breath. 

He  had  encountered  heavy  storms,  and  reached 
the  top  of  the  famous  mountain  only  at  the  risk  of 
his  life.  But  he  reached  it.  He  had  the  real 
stuff  in  him,  after  all.  Yet  everything  not  ab- 
solutely essential  had  to  be  sacrificed.  And  his 
ideas  of  the  meaning  of  that  word  "essential" 
underwent  radical  changes  as  he  labored  up  the 
steep. 

Then  the  old  teacher  telling  the  story  suddenly 
leaned  over  his  desk  and,  looking  earnestly  at  the 
class,  said,  "When  I  was  young  I  planned  out  my 
life  just  as  he  planned  out  his  climb.  Food  and 
clotting,  and  full  records  of  my  experiences  for  the 
world's  information,  figured  in  big.  But  at  forty 
I  cared  only  for  such  clothes  as  kept  me  warm, 
and  at  fifty  only  for  such  food  as  kept  me  strong. 
And  so  steep  was  the  climb  up  to  the  top  I  had  set 
my  heart  upon  that  at  sixty  I  cared  litde  for  the 
opinions  of  people,  if  only  I  might  reach  the  top. 
And  when  I  do  reach  it  I  shall  not  care  whether 
the  world  has  a  record  of  it  or  not  That  record 
is  in  safety  above." 

We  laugh  at  the  ambitious  young  Englishman. 
But  will  you  kindly  let  me  say,  plainly,  without 
meaning  to  be  critical  in  an  unkind  sense,  that 


The  Plan  55 

most  of  us  do  just  as  he  did.  And  will  you  listen 
softly,  while  I  say  this — many  of  us,  when  we  find 
we  can't  reach  the  top  with  our  loads,  let  the  top 
go,  and  pitch  our  tents  in  the  plain,  and  settle 
down  with  our  small  plans  and  accessories.  The 
plain  seems  to  be  quite  full  of  tents. 

The  plan  of  the  Swiss  guides  is  the  plan  for  the 
life-climb.  It  is  the  plan,  and  the  only  one  for 
us  to  follow  in  the  world-winning  cHmb.  That 
was  Jesus'  plan.  He  left  behind  and  threw  away 
everything  that  hindered,  and  at  the  last  threw 
away  life  itself,  that  so  the  world  might  find  life. 
We  must  follow  Him. 


THE  URGENT  NEED 


Three  Great  Groups. 

The  Needle  of  the  Compass  of  Need. 

A  Quick  Run  round  the  World. 

West  by  Way  of  the  East. 

Christian  Lands. 

The  Greatest  Need. 

Groping  in  the  Dark. 

Living  Messages  of  Jesus. 

The  Great  Unknown  Lack. 


The   Need 

Three  Great  Groups. 

The  human  heart  is  tender.  It  answers 
quickly  to  the  cry  of  need.  It  is  oftentimes  hard 
to  find.  In  Christian  lands  it  is  covered  up  with 
selfishness.  And  in  heathen  lands  the  selfishness 
seems  so  thickly  crusted  that  it  is  hard  to  awaken 
even  common  humanitarian  feeling. 

But  that  heart  once  dug  out,  and  touched, 
never  fails  to  respond  to  the  cry  of  need.  We 
know  how  the  cry  of  physical  distress,  of  some 
great  disaster,  or  of  hunger  will  be  listened  to, 
and  how  quickly  all  men  respond  to  that.  When 
the  terrible  earthquake  laid  San  Francisco  in 
burning  ruins  the  whole  nation  stopped,  and  gave 
a  great  heart-throb;  and  then  commenced  at  once 
sending  relief.  Corporations  that  are  rated  soul- 
less and  men  that  are  spoken  of  as  money-mad, 
knocking  each  other  pitilessly  aside  in  their  greed 
for  gold  and  power,  all  alike  sent  quick  and 
generous  help  of  every  substantial  sort. 

Beside  expressing  their  sympathy  in  kindest 
and  keenest  word,  they  gave  millions  of  dollars. 
Yet  this  might  seem  to  be  a  family  affair,  as  in- 
59 


6o     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

deed  it  was.  But  the  great  famines  in  India  and 
in  other  foreign  lands  farthest  removed  from  us, 
have  awakened  a  like  response  in  our  hearts. 
Great  sums  have  been  given  in  money  and  sup- 
plies to  feed  the  hunger  of  far-away  peoples,  and 
help  them  sow  their  fields  and  get  a  fresh  start. 

There  is  a  need  far  deeper  and  greater  than  that 
of  physical  suffering.  And  there  is  a  heart 
far  more  tender  than  the  best  human  heart. 
That  need  is  to  know  God,  whom  to  know  is  to 
enter  into  fulness  of  hfe,both  physical  and  mental; 
and  into  that  life  of  the  spirit  that  is  higher  and 
sweeter  than  either  of  these  lower  down.  And 
that  tender  heart  is  the  human  heart  touched  by 
the  warm  heart  of  God. 

Many  of  us  Christian  people  who  are  gathered 
here  to-night  have  had  unusual  blessing  in  having 
our  hearts  touched  into  real  life  by  the  touch  of 
God.  And  there's  much  more  of  the  same  sort 
waiting  our  fuller  touch  with  Him.  And  now  we 
want  to  see  to-night  something  of  the  needs  of 
God's  great  world-family,  which  is  our  own 
family  because  it  is  God's.  Then  we  shall  re- 
spond to  it  as  freely  and  quickly  and  intelligently, 
as  He  Himself  did  and  does. 

I  am  going  to  ask  you  to  come  with  me  for  a 
brief  journey  around  the  world.  We  want  to  get 
something  of  a  clear,  even  though  rapid  view, 
of  the  whole  of  this  world  of  ours.  For  the  whole 
world  is  a  mission  field.  Missionaries  are  sent 
everywhere,  including  our  own  home-land,  and 
including  all  of  our  cities. 


The  Need  6i 

Our  cities  are  as  really  mission  fields  as  are  the 
heathen  lands.  There  is  a  difference,  but  it  is  only 
one  of  degree.  The  Christian  standards  present 
in  our  American  life,  and  absent  from  these 
foreign-mission  lands,  make  an  enormous  dif- 
ference. But,  apart  from  that  great  fact,  the  need 
of  mission  service  is  as  really  in  New  York  as  it 
is  in  Shanghai. 

If  we  are  to  pray  for  the  whole  world,  and  to 
help  in  other  ways  to  win  it,  we  ought  to  try  to 
get  something  of  a  clear  idea  of  it,  to  help  us  in  our 
thinking  and  praying  and  planning. 

It  will  help  toward  that  if  we  remember  at  the 
outset  that  the  world  from  the  religious  point  of 
view,  divides  up  easily  into  three  great  groups. 
First  there  are  the  great  non-Christian,  or  heathen, 
lands  and  nations.  This  includes  those  called 
Mohammedan;  for,  while  that  religion  is  based 
upon  a  partial  Christian  truth,  it  is  so  utterly 
corrupt  in  teaching  and  morally  foul  in  practice 
that  it  is  distinctly  classed  with  the  heathen 
religions. 

Then  there  are  the  lands  and  nations  under 
the  control  of  those  two  great  mediaeval  historic 
forms  of  Christianity,  the  Roman  and  Greek 
Churches,  in  which  the  vital  principles  of  the 
Christian  life  seem  to  have  been  almost  wholly 
lost  in  a  network  of  forms  and  organization. 
The  essential  truths  are  there.  But  they  are 
hidden  away  and  covered  up.  There  are  un- 
told numbers  of  true  Christians  there,  but  they 
live  in  a  strangely  clouded  twilight 


6  2     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

The  third  great  group  is  of  lands  and  peoples 
under  the  sway  of  the  Protestant  churches. 

The  Needle  of  the  Compass  of  Need. 

Let  us  look  a  Httle  at  these  peoples.  Where 
shall  we  start  in?  The  old  rule  of  the  Master's 
command,  and  of  the  early  Church's  practice, 
was  to  begin  "at  Jerusalem,'*  and  keep  moving 
until  the  outmost  limit  of  the  world  was  reached. 
I  suppose  that  practically,  in  service,  beginning 
at  Jerusalem  means  beginning  just  where  you  are, 
and  then  reaching  out  to  those  nearest,  and  then 
less  near,  until  you  have  touched  the  farthest. 

But  the  old  Jerusalem  rule  will  make  a  good 
geographical  rule  for  us  English-speaking  people, 
with  an  ocean  between  us,  in  getting  a  fresh  look 
at  this  old  world  that  the  Master  asks  us  to  carry 
in  our  hearts  and  on  our  hands.  So  we'll  begin 
there. 

The  needle  of  a  magnetic  compass  always 
points  north.  The  needle  of  the  compass  of 
progress  has  always  pointed  west;  at  least  al- 
ways since  the  Medo-Persian  was  the  world- 
power.  But  it  is  striking  that  the  compass  of  the 
world's  need  always  points  its  needle  toward  the 
east.  And  so,  starting  at  Jerusalem,  we  may 
well  turn  our  faces  east  as  we  take  our  swing 
around  the  world  to  learn  its  need. 

It  may  be  a  rehef  to  you  to  know  at  once  that 
there  will  not  be  any  statistics  in  this  series  of 
talks.  We  want  instead  just  now  to  get  broad 
and  general,  but  distinct,  impressions.     Statistics 


The  Need  63 

are  burdensome  to  most  people.  They  are  a 
good  deal  of  a  bugbear  to  the  common  crowd  of 
us  every-day  folks.  They  are  absolutely  essen- 
tial. They  are  of  immense,  that  is,  immeasur- 
able, value.  You  need  to  have  them  at  hand 
where  you  can  easily  turn  for  exact  information, 
as  you  need  it,  to  refresh  your  memory.  And  an 
increasing  amount  of  it  will  stick  in  your  memory 
and  guide  your  thinking  and  praying. 

There  are  easily  available,  in  these  days  of 
such  remarkable  missionary  activity,  an  abun- 
dance of  fresh  statistics,  in  attractive  form.  We 
are  gready  indebted  to  the  Student  Volunteer 
Movement  and  the  Young  People's  Missionary 
Movement  and  the  Church  Societies  for  the  great 
service  they  have  done  in  this  matter  of  full  fresh 
information. 

But  the  thing  of  first  importance  is  to  get  an  in- 
teUigent  thought  of  the  whole  world.  And  then 
to  add  steadily  to  our  stock  of  particular  informa- 
tion, as  study  and  prayer  and  service  call  for  it.  It 
is  possible  to  get  a  simple  grasp  of  the  whole  world. 
And  it  helps  immensely  to  do  it. 

It  helps  at  once  to  this  end  to  remember  that 
two-thirds  of  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth  are  in  the 
distinctly  heathen,  or  non-Christian,  lands.  This 
in  itself  is  a  tremendous  fact,  telUng  at  once  of  the 
world's  need.  At  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth 
hundred-years  since  Jesus  gave  His  command  to 
preach  His  Gospel  to  all  men,  two-thirds  of  them 
are  still  in  ignorance  of  Him  and  under  the  same 
moral  sway  as  when  He  went  away. 


64     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

I  might  add  that  there  are  a  billion  people  in 
these  two- thirds.  But  that  figure  is  so  big  as 
only  to  stagger  the  mind  in  an  attempt  to  take  it  in. 
The  important  thing  is  to  see  that  it  doesn't  by  its 
sheer  bigness,  stagger  our  faith  or  our  courage  or 
our  praying  habit.  We  want  to  be  like  the  old 
Hebrew  who  "staggered  not"  at  God's  promise  to 
do  for  him  a  naturally  impossible  thing.  Yet  it 
is  well  to  repeat  that  word  "billion,"  for  it  brings 
up  sharply  and  gigantically  the  staggering  need 
of  the  world  for  Christ. 

One-third  is  in  lands  commonly  called  Chris- 
tian. Though  we  must  use  that  word  "  Christian  " 
in  the  broadest  and  most  charitable  sense  in 
making  that  statement. 

A  Quick  Run  Round  the  World. 


Beginning  at  Jerusalem,  then,  means  for  us  just 
now  beginning  with  the  Turkish  Empire.  And 
with  that,  in  this  rapid  run  through,  we  may  for 
convenience  group  Arabia  and  Persia  and  Af- 
ghanistan. This  is  the  section  where  Moham- 
medanism, that  corrupt  mixture  of  heathenism 
with  a  small  tincture  of  Christian  truth,  has  its 
home,  and  whence  it  has  gone  out  on  its  work 
throughout  the  world. 

Great  populations  here  have  practically  no 
knowledge  at  all  of  the  Gospel,  for  missionary 
work  is  extremely  scant.  The  land  of  the  Saviour, 
with  its  eastern  neighbors,  has  no  Saviour,  so  far  as 
knowing  about  Him  is  concerned,  though  it  needs 
His  saving  very  sorely. 


The  Need  65 

Next  to  it,  on  the  east,  lies  the  great  land  of 
India,  with  the  smaller  countries  that  naturally 
group  with  it.  And  here  are  gathered  fully  a 
fifth  of  the  people  of  the  earth.  These  are  really 
in  large  part  our  blood-brothers.  Their  fathers 
away  back  were  brothers  to  our  fathers.  And  so 
missionary  work  here  ought  to  be  reckoned 
largely  as  a  family  affair.  British  rule  has  had 
an  immense  humanizing  influence  here.  Mis- 
sionary activity  has  been  carried  on  aggressively 
for  years,  and  great  and  blessed  progress  has  been 
made. 

Yet  it  is  merely  a  preparation  for  the  work 
now  so  sorely  needed.  These  years  of  faithful 
seed-sowing  have  made  the  soil  dead  ripe  for  a 
harvest  in  our  day.  A  strange  religiousness  utterly 
lacking  both  in  religion  and  in  morality,  abomi- 
nably repugnant  in  its  gross  immorality,  honey- 
combs the  life  of  these  people.  The  cry  of  need 
here  is  deep  and  pathetic. 

Pushing  on  still  to  the  east,  the  great  land  of 
China  with  its  dependencies,  looms  up  in  all 
its  huge  giant  size.  Roughly  speaking,  almost 
a  third  of  the  world's  people  are  grouped  here. 
There  are  practically  almost  as  many  in  what  is 
reckoned  Chinese  territory  as  in  all  Christian 
lands.  Here  is  found  the  oldest  and  best  civiliza- 
tion of  the  non-Christian  sort.  The  old  common 
religion  of  Confucius  is  practically  not  a  religion 
at  all,  but  a  code  of  maxims  and  rules,  and  utterly 
lacking  in  moral  uplift  or  power. 

The  peculiarly  impressive  thing  about  China, 
5 


66     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

as  indeed  about  nearly  all  of  the  heathen  world, 
is  the  spirit  of  stagnation.  There  is  a  deadness, 
or  sort  of  stupor,  over  everything.  It  is  as  if  a 
bUght  had  spread  over  the  land,  checking  all 
progress.  Habits,  customs,  and  institutions  re- 
main apparently  as  they  were  a  thousand  years 
ago.  This  stands  out  in  sharp  contrast  with  the 
spirit  of  growth  that  marks  Christian  lands. 

It  seems  strange  to  us  because  the  spirit  of 
growth  is  the  atmosphere  of  our  western  world, 
breathed  in  from  infancy.  The  one  word  that 
seems  peculiarly  to  describe  China  is  that  word 
' '  stagnant. ' '  The  people  themselves  are  remarka- 
ble both  for  their  mental  power  and  their  habits  of 
industry.  The  Chinese  may  well  be  called  the 
Anglo-Saxons  of  the  Orient,  in  latent  power  and 
mental  character. 

In  our  modesty  we  think  the  Anglo-Saxon, 
the  English-speaking,  the  greatest  of  living 
peoples.  Certainly  the  leadership  of  the  world 
is  in  Anglo-Saxon  hands,  and  has  been  for  cen- 
turies. And  the  marvellous,  unprecedented  prog- 
ress of  the  world  has  been  under  that  leadership. 

Well,  when  these  Chinese  wake  up  we  are  very 
likely  to  find  the  race  getting  a  new  leadership,  and 
the  history  of  the  world  a  new  chapter  added. 
What  sort  of  leadership  it  will  be  morally,  and 
what  sort  of  a  chapter,  will  depend  on  how  much 
statesmanship  there  is  in  our  praying  and  giving 
and  missionary  service.  But  the  need  is  enor- 
mously intensified  by  the  unawakened  power  of 
these  Chinese. 


The  Need  67 

West  by  Way  of  the  East. 

Still  moving  east,  we  come  to  the  newly  awakened 
and  very  attractive  island-nation  of  Japan,  which, 
because  of  its  geographical  and  territorial  situation, 
has  been  called  the  Great  Britain  of  the  Orient. 
Japan  stands  at  present  as  the  exception  to  the 
common  stagnation  of  the  heathen  world.  It  has 
made  a  record  nothing  less  than  phenomenal  as  a 
student  of  Western  life.  It  has  absorbed,  and 
imitated,  and  adapted  to  its  own  use,  the  Western 
knowledge  and  spirit  with  a  wonderful  power  and 
intelligence. 

Japan  is  both  bright  and  ambitious  to  an  almost 
abnormal  degree,  and  as  tricky  in  its  dealings,  and 
morally  unclean  in  its  life,  as  it  is  bright  and  am- 
bitious. They  have  been  caUed  the  Frenchmen 
of  the  Orient,  and  that  characterization  fits  re- 
markably in  many  respects.  Great  progress  has 
been  made  in  giving  the  Gospel  to  Japan,  but  the 
present  moral  need  is  immensely  intensified  by 
the  very  aggressiveness  of  the  Japanese  spirit. 

With  Japan,  the  island-kingdom,  it  is  easy  to 
group  the  whole  island-world  lying  to  the  east  and 
south,  though  these  are  utterly  different  peoples. 
This  includes  the  great  number  of  islands  scattered 
throughout  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  conditions  are 
largely  those  of  savagery  except  where  affected  by 
Christian  civilization  through  the  missionary  enter- 
prise. The  Gospel  has  done  some  wonderful  feats 
of  transformation  here.  And  there  is  plenty  of 
room  for  more.    AustraHa,  the  ''island  continent/' 


68     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

is  a  British  colony,  and  of  course  now  reckoned 
among  Christian  lands;  as  is  also  the  large  island 
of  New  Zealand,  also  a  British  colony,  which 
has  been  a  leader  in  some  of  the  most  advanced 
steps  of  modern  civilization. 

Crossing  the  Pacific  to  the  east  brings  up  the 
South  American  Continent;  and  Central  America, 
the  connecting  stretch  of  land  with  our  own  con- 
tinent; and  Mexico,  which  is  commonly  grouped 
with  foreign-mission  lands.  South  America  has 
been  spoken  of  both  as  the  ''neglected  continent" 
and  as  the  "continent  of  opportunity."  The 
common  characteristic  religiously  of  all  this  vast 
section  from  Mexico  to  the  "Land  of  Fire,"  at 
the  southernmost  toe  of  South  America,  is  that  it 
is  under  the  sway  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
Some  parts  of  it  have  been  spoken  of  as  "baptized 
heathenism."  A  vast  network  of  church  forms 
and  organization,  practically  lifeless,  holds  these 
peoples  in  an  iron  grasp.  The  need  of  the  Gospel 
of  Jesus  is  fully  as  great  as  in  civilized  China  or 
savage  Africa. 

One  more  long  easterly  stride,  across  the  Atlan- 
tic, brings  black  Africa,  and  completes  this  rapid 
run  around  the  globe,  so  far  as  distinctly  heathen 
lands  are  concerned.  Africa  is  peculiarly  the 
savage  continent,  though  it  has  the  oldest  civiliza- 
tion in  its  northeast  corner,  and  the  newest 
British  civilization  rapidly  developing  on  its 
southern  edge.  It  is  the  "dark  continent,"  both 
in  the  color  of  its  inhabitants  and  in  its  sad  desti- 
tution and  degradation.     About  a  tenth  of  the 


The  Need  69 

world's  population  is  here;  with  as  many  mission- 
aries as  in  civilized  India,  but  unable  to  reach 
the  people  as  effectually  as  there  because  of  the 
lack  of  national  organization  and  the  absence 
of  great  highways  of  travel. 

Africa  is  essentially  a  great  mass  of  separate 
tribes,  larger  and  smaller,  most  of  them  in  deepest 
savagery,  with  sorest  need  not  only  of  salvation, 
but  of  civiHzation.  The  sore  need  of  its  very 
savagery  has  seemed  to  make  it  a  magnet  to  mis- 
sionary enterprise.  And  yet  all  that  has  been 
done,  and  is  being  done,  seems  almost  swallowed 
up  in  the  depth  of  its  degradation  and  savagery. 

I  have  taken  you  with  me  in  this  very  rapid  run 
that  we  might  try  to  get  a  simple  practical  grasp 
of  the  heathen  world.  And  if  you  and  I  might 
often  take  just  such  a  run,  with  map  or  globe  and 
Bible  at  hand,  and  our  knees  bent,  it  would  greatly 
help  us  in  getting  close  to  the  world  our  Lord 
died  for;  and  which  He  means  to  win;  and  to 
win  through  you  and  me;  and  which  He  will 
win. 

Christian  Lands. 


But  I  must  talk  with  you  a  bit  about  our  Chris- 
tian lands,  Europe  and  America,  with  huge 
Russia  sitting  astride  both  Europe  and  Asia,  with 
a  foot  danghng  on  each  side  of  the  globe. 
For  these,  too,  are  mission  lands.  Foreign-mission 
lands,  would  you  call  them  ?  Well,  that  depends 
entirely  on  what  spot  you  happen  to  call  home. 
They  are  all  mission  fields.     The  whole  world  is  a 


JO     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

mission  field  to  God.  F oreign-m\'s&\(yD,  field?  or 
/j^me-mission ?  Which?  It  makes  no  practical 
matter  which  term  you  choose  to  use. 

It  will  be  well  to  remember  just  what  that  com- 
mon phrase,  "Christian  lands,"  reaUy  means. 
It  may  help  us  in  our  praying.  And  it  may  help 
us,  too,  to  keep  humble  as  we  think  about  heathen 
lands.  It  means,  of  course,  the  lands  where 
Christian  standards  are  commonly  recognized  as 
the  proper  standards  of  morals  and  of  life. 

It  does  not  mean  that  the  people  are  all  Chris- 
tian. Only  a  minority  so  class  themselves;  the 
great  majority  do  not.  Neither  does  it  mean 
that  that  minority  called  Christian  is  controlled  in 
daily  fife  and  in  business  by  the  principles  of  Jesus. 
For  by  pretty  general  consent  they  are  not  so 
controlled.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  there 
is  more  of  that  same  spirit  of  selfishness  that 
marks  the  heathen  world,  dominating  the  per- 
sonal lives  of  people  in  Christian  lands,  than  there 
is  of  the  unselfish  Christ  spirit.  That  may  sound 
unkind  and  too  critical  to  you.  It  is  not  said  in  a 
critical  spirit,  but  simply  in  the  desire  to  get 
the  facts  as  they  are.  I  am  fully  persuaded  that 
the  more  you  think  about  it  the  more  you  will 
come  to  see  that  this  is  simply  the  truth. 

Nor  yet  does  that  term,  "Christian  lands," 
mean  that  these  lands  are  as  distinctly  Christian 
through  and  through  as  heathen  lands  are  dis- 
tinctly heathen,  or  non-Christian,  through  and 
through.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Christian  lands  are 
not  dominated  as  thoroughly  by  the  Christian 


The  Need  71 

spirit  as  heathen  lands  are  by  the  heathen  spirit. 
We  really  don't  deserve  our  distinctive  phrase 
as  much  as  they  deserve  theirs. 

It  does  mean  chiefly  this,  that  here  in  these 
lands  the  Christian  Church  has  its  stronghold; 
that  Christian  standards  are  commonly  recog- 
nized, though  in  practice  they  are  so  commonly 
disregarded.  It  means  that  the  enormous  in- 
cidental blessings,  in  material  and  mental  life, 
that  always  follow  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
are  here  enjoyed  most  fully.  And  it  means, 
too,  that  much  of  the  humanizing,  softening,  and 
energizing  power  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  has  seeped 
and  soaked  into  our  common  civilization  and 
affected  all  our  life. 

This  is  true;  yet  the  mass  of  persons  living  in 
this  atmosphere,  and  enjoying  its  great  advantages, 
are  wholly  selfish  in  the  main  drive  of  their  lives, 
and  so  in  being  selfish  are  un-Christian.  While 
Christian  ideals  dominate  so  much  of  our  life, 
the  term  ''Christian  lands"  really  describes  our 
privileges  more  than  it  does  our  practices.  . 

The  Greatest  Need. 

A  word  now  about  these  great  Christian  lands 
of  Europe  and  America.  The  CathoHc  countries 
of  Europe  have  been  regarded  as  mission  fields  by 
the  Protestant  churches,  and  missionary  opera- 
tions have  been  conducted  in  them  for  many  years. 
Russia  has  likewise  been  commonly  regarded  as 
missionary  territory,  and  a  very  difficult  one  at 
that.     In  portions  of  Great  Britain,  in   our   own 


7  2     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

Western  States  and  frontiers,  in  the  Southern  moun- 
tain States,  and  in  other  sections,  and  among 
special  classes,  missionary  work  has  been  regularly 
carried  on. 

And  the  cities,  those  great,  strange,  throbbing 
hearts  of  human  life,  are  all  peculiarly  mission 
fields.  It  is  remarkable  how  the  modern  city 
reproduces  world  conditions  morally.  The  city 
is  a  sort  of  miniature  of  the  world.  All  the  vary- 
ing moral  conditions  of  the  heathen  world,  atheism, 
savagery  almost,  crude  heathenish  superstition, 
degradation  of  woman,  neglect  of  children,  and 
untempered  lust,  may  be  found  in  New  York  and 
Chicago,  in  London  and  Paris,  in  Vienna  and  Ber- 
lin, and  in  varying  degree  in  all  cities  of  Christian 
lands.  The  grosser  parts  are  hidden  away, 
more  or  less. 

These  conditions  are  softened  in  intensity  by  the 
commonly  recognized  moral  standards  of  life. 
But  they  are  there.  The  man  immersed  in  mission 
service  in  any  of  these  cities  is  apt  to  think  that 
there  can  be  no  greater  nor  sorer  need  than  this 
that  pushes  itself  insistently  upon  him  at  every 
turn. 

The  slum  ends  and  sides  of  our  Christian  cities 
and  huge  heathendom,  jostle  elbows  in  the  like- 
ness of  their  moral  conditions.  The  need  is 
everywhere,  crying  earnestly,  wretchedly  out  to 
us.  There  is  good  mission  ground  anywhere 
you  please  to  strike  in. 

But — hut,  by  far  the  greatest  need,  with  that 
word  "greatest"  intensified  beyond  all  power  of 


The  Need  73 

description,  is  in  the  heathen  lands.  The  vast- 
ness  of  the  numbers  there,  the  utter  ignorance,  the 
smallness  of  their  chance  of  getting  any  of  the 
knowledge  and  uplift  of  the  Gospel,  all  go  to  spell 
out  that  word  "greatest."  The  awful  cumulative 
power  of  sin,  unchecked  by  the  common  moral 
standards  of  Ufe,  with  the  terrific  momentum  of 
centuries;  the  common  temptations  known  to  us, 
but  with  a  fierceness  and  subtlety  wholly  unknown 
to  us  in  Christian  lands — and  yet  how  terrifically 
fierce  and  cunningly  subtle  some  of  us  know 
them  to  be! — these  all  make  every  letter  in  that 
word  "greatest"  stand  out  in  biggest  capitals, 
and  in  blackest,  inkiest  ink. 

Groping  in  the  Dark. 

That  is  a  bare  suggestion  of  the  need  of  the 
world  in  hulk.  But  we  want  to  get  a  much  closer 
look  than  that.  These  are  men  that  we  are 
talking  about;  our  brothers,  not  merely  hard, 
unfeeling,  statistical  totals  of  millions.  Each 
man  of  them  contains  the  whole  pitiable  picture 
of  the  sore  need  of  the  world  vividly  portrayed 
in  himself. 

The  very  heathen  religions  themselves  are  the 
crying  out,  in  the  night,  of  men's  hearts,  after 
something  they  haven't,  and  yet  need  so  much. 
Strange  things  these  heathen  superstitions  and 
monstrous  practices  and  beliefs  called  religions i 
It  has  been  rather  the  thing  of  late  to  speak  some- 
what respectfully  of  them,  and  rather  apologetic- 
ally.    They  have  even  been  praised,  so  strangely 


74     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

do  things  get  mixed  up  in  this  world  of  ours.  It 
has  been  supposed  that  God  was  revealing  Him- 
self in  these  religions;  and  that  in  them  men  were 
reaching  up  to  God,  and  could  reach  up  to  Him 
through  them. 

They  really  are  the  twilight  remnants  of  the 
clear  direct  light  of  God  that  once  lightened  all 
men;  hut  so  mixed  through,  and  covered  up  with 
error  and  superstition  and  unnatural  devilish 
lust,  that  they  are  wholly  inadequate  to  lead  any 
man  back  home  to  God.  In  almost  all  of  them 
there  is  indeed  some  distinct  kernel  of  truth. 
But  that  kernel  has  been  invariably  shut  up  in  a 
shell  and  bur  that  are  hard  beyond  any  power  of 
cracking,  to  get  at  the  kernel  of  truth  for  practical 
help,  even  if  the  people  knew  enough  to  try. 

They  tell  pathetically  of  the  groping  of  man's 
heart  after  God.  But  the  groping  is  in  the 
pitch  dark,  and  amid  a  mass  of  foul,  filthy  cobwebs 
that  blind  the  eyes  with  their  dust,  and  grime  all 
the  life.  I  have  no  doubt  that  untold  numbers 
of  true  hearts  in  heathen  lands  are  feeling  after 
God,  and  in  some  dim  way  coming  into  touch 
with  Him.  He  is  not  far  from  any  one  of  them; 
but  they  find  Him  chiefly  in  spite  of  these  re- 
ligions, rather  than  through  any  help  found  in 
them. 

The  story  is  told  of  a  Chinese  tailor  who  had 
struggled  hopelessly  for  light,  and  had  finally 
found  it  in  finding  Jesus.  He  put  his  idea  of  the 
heathen  religions  that  he  knew,  and  had  tried,  in 
this  simple  vivid  way: 


The  Need  75 

"  A  man  had  fallen  into  a  deep,  dark  pit,  and  lay 
in  its  miry  bottom,  groaning  and  utterly  unable 
to  move.  He  heard  a  man  walking  by  close 
enough  to  see  his  plight.  But  with  stately  tread 
he  walked  on  without  volunteering  to  help. 
That  is  Mohammedanism. 

''  Confucius  walking  by  approached  the  edge  of 
the  pit,  and  said,  'Poor  fellow!  I  am  sorry  for 
you.  Why  were  you  such  a  fool  as  to  get  in  there  ? 
Let  me  give  you  a  piece  of  advice :  If  ever  you  get 
out,  don't  get  in  again.'  'I  can't  get  out,'  said 
the  man.    That  is  Confucianism. 

''A  Buddhist  priest  next  came  by  and  said: 
'  Poor  fellow !  I  am  very  much  pained  to  see  you 
there.  I  think  if  you  could  scramble  up  two- 
thirds  of  the  way,  or  even  half,  I  could  reach  you 
and  lift  you  up  the  rest.'  But  the  man  in  the  pit 
was  entirely  helpless  and  unable  to  rise.  That 
is  Buddhism. 

"Next  the  Saviour  came  by,  and,  hearing  his 
cries,  went  to  the  very  brink  of  the  pit,  stretched 
down  and  laid  hold  of  the  poor  man,  brought  him 
up,  and  said,  '  Go,  sin  no  more.'  This  is  Chris- 
tianity." 

The  awful  moral  or  immoral  conditions  prev- 
alent throughout  the  heathen  world  are  the  most 
graphic  comment  on  the  influence  of  these  relig- 
ions. It  can  be  said  thoughtfully  that,  instead  of 
ever  helping  up  to  God  and  the  Hght,  they  drag 
down  to  the  devil  and  to  black  darkness.  There 
is  not  only  an  utter  lack  of  any  moral  uplift  in 
them,  but  a  deadly  downward  pull.     The  very 


76     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

things  called  religions  point   out   piteously  the 
terrible  need  of  these  peoples. 

Living  Messages  of  Jesus, 

Now,  what  is  it  that  these  people  need,  and 
that  we  can  give  to  them?  May  I  first  remind 
you  what  they  don't  need?  Well,  let  it  be  said 
as  plainly  as  it  can  be  that  they  don't  need  the 
transferring  to  heathen  soil  of  our  Western  church 
systems,  nor  our  schemes  of  organizations.  It 
is  not  our  Western  creeds  and  theology  that  they 
stand  in  need  of. 

Of  course,  there  need  to  be  both  churches  and 
organizations.  Only  so  will  the  work  be  done, 
and  what  is  gotten  held  together.  But  these  are 
in  themselves  temporary.  They  are  immensely 
important  and  indispensable,  but  not  the  chief 
thing.  The  great  need  is  of  the  story  of  Jesus, 
That  is,  plain  teaching  about  sin — the  hardest 
task  of  all  for  the  missionary,  whether  in  Asia  or 
America — and  the  damnable  results  locked  up 
in  sin.  Then  the  winsome  telling,  the  tirelessly 
patient  and  persistently  gentle  telling  of  the 
story  of  love,  God's  love  as  revealed  in  Jesus. 
The  telling  them  that  Jesus  will  put  a  new  moral 
power  inside  a  man  that  will  make  him  over  new. 

But  they  need  even  more  than  this,  aye,  far 
more.  They  need  men — human  beings  like 
themselves,  living  among  them  in  closest  touch — 
whose  clean,  strong,  sweet  lives  spell  out  the  Jesus- 
story  as  no  human  lips  can  ever  tell  it. 

To  live  side  by  side  with  men  who  hke  them- 


The  Need  jj 

selves  are  tempted  sorely,  but  who  show  plainly 
in  their  lives  a  power  that  downs  the  temptation — 
this  is  their  great  need.  The  good  seed,  after  all, 
is  not  the  message  of  truth  merely,  but  the  "sons 
of  the  kingdom,"  ^  men  living  the  message  of 
Jesus,  and  more,  the  power  of  Jesus,  daily. 

A  kindergarten  teacher  opened  a  mission 
among  the  slum  children  of  a  very  poor  section  of 
Chicago.  She  began  her  work  by  gathering  a 
number  of  dirty,  unkempt  children  of  the  street 
into  the  neat  mission  room.  Then,  instead  of 
preaching  or  praying  or  something  of  the  con- 
ventional sort  at  the  first,  she  brought  in  and  set 
on  a  table  a  large  beautiful  calla  lily,  bewitching 
in  its  simple  white  beauty. 

The  effect  of  the  flower  on  one  child,  a  little 
girl,  was  striking.  No  sooner  had  she  looked  at 
it  than  she  looked  down  at  her  own  dirty  hands 
and  clothes,  with  a  flush  creeping  into  her  face. 
Then  she  quickly  went  out  into  the  street.  In  a 
little  while  she  was  back  again,  but  with  her  face 
washed,  her  hair  combed,  her  dress  tidied  up, 
and  a  bit  of  colored  ribbon  added.  She  walked 
straight  up  to  the  lily  again,  and  looked  long, 
with  deep  wondering  admiration  in  her  eyes,  at 
the  beautiful  white  flower. 

The  flower's  purity  was  a  mirror  in  which  she 
saw  her  own  dirtiness.  It  was  a  magnet  drawing 
her  gently  but  strongly  up  to  its  own  higher  level. 
It  was  an  inspiration  moving  her  irresistibly  to 
respond  to  its  own  upward  pull. 

I  Matthew  13:38. 


78     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

A  simple,  pure,  human  life  is  the  greatest  moral 
magnet.  Jesus  Himself  down  here  was  just  such 
a  magnet.  Such  a  life  is  impossible  for  us  with- 
out Jesus.  It  tells  His  power  as  no  tongue  can. 
It  spells  out  loudly  a  standard  of  life  and,  far 
more,  a  power  that  can  lift  the  life  up  to  the  stand- 
ard. It  doesn't  simply  tell  what  we  should  be. 
That  may  only  tantalize  and  tease.  But  it  tells 
what  we  actually  can  be. 

Jesus  is  more  than  a  message.  He  is  a  living 
power  in  a  man's  life.  This  is  the  great  need  of 
men's  hearts, — the  message  of  Jesus'  purity  and 
of  Jesus'  power  embodied  in  live  men,  living  side 
by  side,  in  the  thick  of  things,  with  their  brothers 
of  the  great  world. 

The  Great  Unknown  Lack. 

The  greatness  of  men's  need  stands  out  most 
pathetically  in  this,  that  men  don't  know  their 
need.  They  have  gotten  so  used  to  the  night 
that  they  don't  care  for  the  sunlight.  They  have 
been  hungry  so  long  that  the  sense  of  hunger  and 
the  call  of  appetite  have  wholly  gone. 

There  is  a  simple,  striking  story  told  of  two 
famous  Scandinavians,  Ole  Bull,  the  great  violin- 
ist, and  John  Ericsson,  the  great  inventor,  who 
taught  the  world  to  use  the  screw  in  steam  navi- 
gation. The  one  was  a  Norwegian,  the  other  a 
Swede.  They  had  been  friends  in  early  Kfe,  but 
drifted  apart  and  did  not  meet  again  until  each 
had  become  famous.  The  old  friendship  was  re- 
newed on  one  of  Ole  Bull's  tours  to  this  countrv. 


The  Need  79 

As  Bull  was  leaving  his  friend,  after  a  delight- 
ful visit,  he  gave  him  a  cordial  invitation  to  at- 
tend his  concert  that  evening.  But  the  matter- 
of-fact,  prosaic  Ericsson  declined,  pleading  pressure 
of  work,  and  saying  that  he  had  no  time  to  waste 
on  music. 

Bull  renewed  his  invitation,  time  and  again, 
finally  saying,  "  If  you  won't  come,  I'll  bring  my 
violin  down  here  to  your  shop,  and  play."  "If 
you  do,"  replied  the  famous  engineer  laughingly, 
"I'll  smash  the  thing  to  pieces."  The  violinist, 
knowing  the  marvellous,  almost  supernatural, 
power  of  his  instrument  to  touch  and  awaken  the 
human  heart  into  new  life,  felt  curious  to  know 
what  effect  it  would  have  on  this  scientific  man 
steeped  in  his  prosaic  physics.  So  he  planned  a 
bit  of  diplomacy. 

Taking  the  violin  with  him,  he  called  upon 
Ericsson  at  his  workshop  one  day.  He  re- 
moved the  strings  and  screws  and  apron,  and 
called  Ericsson's  attention  to  certain  defects, 
asking  about  the  scientific  and  acoustic  principles 
involved,  and  discussing  the  differing  effect  of  the 
different  grain  of  certain  woods.  From  this 
he  went  on  to  a  discussion  of  sound  waves. 
Finally,  to  illustrate  his  meaning  and  his  questions, 
he  replaced  the  parts,  and,  bringing  the  bow 
softly  down  upon  the  tense  strings,  drew  out  a 
few  marvellously  sweet,  'rich  tones. 

At  once  the  workmen  in  the  shop  dropped  their 
tools,  and  listened  with  wide-eyed  wonder.  Ole 
Bull  played  on  and  on,  with  his  simple  great  skill, 


8  o     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

making  the  workshop  a  place  of  worship.  When 
finally  he  paused,  Ericsson  lifted  his  bowed  head, 
and  showed  eyes  that  were  wet.  Then  he  said 
softly,  with  the  touch  of  reverent  awe  in  his  voice, 
*' Play  on!  Don't  stop.  Play  on.  I  never  knew 
before  what  it  was  that  was  lacking  in  my  liJeP 

That  is  what  men  everywhere  say  when  they 
come  to  know  Jesus.  They  fight  against  know- 
ing Him  because  of  their  ignorance  of  Him.  At 
home,  prejudice  against  theology  of  this  sort  and 
that;  against  some  preaching,  or  church  service, 
or  some  Christian  people  they  have  unpleasant 
memories  of  perhaps,  bar  the  way.  Abroad, 
prejudice  against  their  treatment  at  the  hands  of 
Christian  nations,  or  against  anything  new,  shuts 
the  door  with  a  slam  and  a  sharp  push  of  the  bolt. 

It  takes  great  diplomacy,  love's  diplomacy, 
the  combination  of  serpent  and  dove,  subtlety 
and  harmlessness,  to  get  an  entrance.  But  when 
the  door  is  pried  open,  or  coaxed  open  enough 
for  some  sound  or  sight  of  Jesus  to  get  in, 
they  passionately  cry  out,  "  This  is  what  I  need. 
This  Jesus  is  the  lacking  thing  in  my  life!" 


THE   PRESENT   OPPORTUNITY 


Somebody's  Knocking  at  the  Door. 

They're  Standing  in  the  Dark. 

Who's  There  ? 

The  Coming  Leaders. 

What  They're  After. 

Returning  Our  Call, 

"Inasmuch." 


The   Present   Opportunity 


Somebody s  Knocking  at  the  Door. 

There's  a  soft,  tender  passion  in  the  heart  of 
God.  Its  flame  burns  steadily.  It  never  flags 
nor  dims.  It's  a  passion  for  His  child-man.  And 
that  very  passion  itself  drav/s  man  to  Himself 
with  a  drawing  power  that  is  irresistible.  They 
can't  resist  being  drawn,  even  though  they  may 
refuse  to  yield  to  it. 

There  is  an  answering  passion  in  man's  heart  for 
God.  It  is  often  a  sort  of  dumb  longing,  not 
clearly  defined  nor  well  understood.  It  is  a  mute 
yearning  of  his  heart  for  God,  though  often  he 
doesn't  think  of  it  that  way.  But  it  is  there; 
for  these  two,  man  and  God,  belong  together. 
They  were  together  until  sin  drove  its  ugly  wedge 
in  between.  They  are  a  part  of  each  other. 
Neither  one  is  complete  nor  happy  without  the 
other. 

The  heart  of  God  can  be  satisfied  only  as  man 
comes  back  home  to  Him.  And  man's  heart 
never  rests  until  it  finds  rest  in  comradeship  with 
God.  These  two  are  always  drawing  toward 
each  other.  God  is  always  drawing  man  by  the 
great  master-passion  of  His  heart.  And  man  is 
83 


8  4     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

always  responding  to  that  tender,  strong  pull  in  the 
underneath,  mute  yearning  of  his  heart. 

By  and  by  the  thing  that  keeps  them  apart  will 
be  gotten  rid  of.  Sin  will  be  shipped  overboard, 
to  fall  by  its  own  dead  weight  to  the  bottom  of  the 
sea.  Then  there  will  be  glad  reunion  of  God  and 
man,  their  hearts  in  full  glad  accord  again.  To- 
night we  want  to  talk  together  a  bit  about  this 
answering  passion  of  man's  heart  for  God. 

The  heathen  world  is  knocking  to-day  at  the 
door  of  the  Christian  Church.  It  has  found  out 
who  has  the  fullest  and  truest  information  about 
God.  And  it  is  knocking  loudly  and  earnestly  at 
that  door.  And  it  keeps  on  knocking,  though 
the  door  seems  to  be  barely  open  yet;  and  a 
good  many — most? — inside  don't  seem  to  have 
heard  the  knocking. 

The  most  remarkable  thing  about  the  present 
time  from  the  Church  point  of  view  is  that  the 
heathen  peoples  are  asking  for  what  the  Master 
has  told  us  to  give  them.  The  centre  of  Church 
attraction  and  of  Christian  action  to-day  is  on 
the  swing  toward  heathen  lands. 

When  the  Church  began  again,  a  hundred  years 
ago,  to  enter  the  great  heathen  world,  it  had  to  use 
pick  and  axe,  jimmy  and  chisel.  It  seemed  Uke 
using  burglar's  tools.  Certainly  it  was  working 
in  the  dark,  with  only  the  burglar's  dark-lantern 
to  show  the  way.  But  now  the  heathen  door  is 
wide  open.  Instead  of  our  knocking  at  their  door, 
the  heathen  world  is  knocking  at  our  door. 

Our  billion  brothers  stand  in  the  night-time 


The  Present  Opportunity         85 

of  their  darkness  blindly  feeling  for  our  door,  and 
knocking,  now  timidly,  now  earnestly  and  loudly, 
ay,  imperiously,  for  the  light  that  we  have. 
It  has  been  a  cold  night  for  them,  and  a  long 
night,  too.  But  the  darkest  hour  of  it  is  already 
throbbing  with  the  flood  of  coming  light.  They 
have  found  the  door  and  are  using  it.  The  whole 
foreign  non-Christian  world  is  knocking  with  in- 
cessant, insistent  clamor  at  our  church  door. 

They^re  Standing  in  the  Dark, 

I  do  not  mean  that  actually  every  country  in 
the  world  is  open  to  the  Gospel.  For  there  are  a 
few  countries  with  comparatively  scanty  popula- 
tions that  are  not  open;  except,  indeed,  on  the 
edges,  to  the  man  prying  earnestly  around  for  a 
way  to  get  in. 

I  don't  mean  that  every  man  in  these  open 
countries  is  actually  asking  us  to  send  him  some 
word  of  Jesus.  For  vast  numbers  of  them  have 
never  heard  either  about  us  or  about  Him. 
They  don't  know  there  is  a  Jesus  to  ask  about; 
or,  judging  by  others,  thej  would  be  asking. 

Neither  do  I  mean  that  these  multitudes  who 
are  asking  are,  in  every  case,  asking  for  the 
Gospel  itself.  For  many  times  that  is  not  so. 
They  ask  for  that  which  appeals  to  them  strongly 
as  something  that  they  want.  They  want  our 
Western  science  and  learning.  They  want  to  get 
from  us  the  secret  of  harnessing  nature  up  to  their 
wagon  to  pull  their  heavy  loads. 

In    many   cases,    without   doubt,    they   don't 


8  6     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

want  our  Christianity  at  all.  They  regard  it 
simply  as  something  that  goes  along  inseparably 
with  the  thing  they  do  want.  They  are  willing 
to  put  up  with  some  of  it  for  a  while,  if  only  they 
can  get  the  thing  they  are  after.  Their  eyes 
have  been  caught  by  the  bright  light  of  our 
Christian  civilization.  They  don't  understand 
how  it  came  to  us.  They  haven't  wakened  up 
enough,  most  of  them,  to  think  into  that. 

They  want  the  light  we  have,  as  we  might 
want  something  that  we  could  order  a  shipment 
of.  They  haven't  learned  enough  yet  to  want 
to  get  the  light-generating  plant  installed  in  their 
midst.  The  great  fact  that  all  our  civilization 
has  come  to  us  through  the  partial  presence  of  the 
Light  of  the  world  hasn't  dawned  upon  their 
minds  yet. 

But,  however  selfish  motives  and  a  crude  under- 
standing or  misunderstanding  may  enter  in, 
the  great  strange  unprecedented  fact  still  re- 
mains true  that  the  world  of  heathenism  is 
knocking  at  the  door  of  Christendom  as  never 
before  in  the  world's  history. 

And  then,  too,  everywhere  some  of  them  are 
asking  plainly  and  piteously  for  the  real  thing. 
Great  numbers  in  all  the  foreign-mission  lands 
are  asking  that  Christian  teachers  be  sent  to 
them  with  Bibles  and  other  books  to  teach  them 
the  way  back  home  to  God.  Wherever  they 
find  out  that  there  is  a  knowledge  of  God  to  be 
gotten,  from  there  comes  the  insistent  knocking 
that  it  be  brought  to  them. 


The  Present  Opportunity         87 

I  remember  Bishop  Bashford,  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  stationed  in  China,  telling  of 
one  of  his  thrilling  experiences  out  there.  He  had 
gone  inland  quite  a  bit  into  China  on  one  of  his 
tours.  One  day  he  was  preaching  the  story  of 
Jesus  to  a  crowd  of  Chinese  gathered  in  the  open 
air.  As  his  interpreter  turned  his  words  into 
Chinese  the  crowds  listened  with  great  respect 
and  keenest  interest. 

As  he  finished  he  asked  them  if  they  had  ever 
heard  the  Gospel  before.  No;  none  of  them  had. 
He  was  turning  up  absolutely  fresh  soil.  And 
they  pressed  in  about  him,  earnestly  asking  that 
men  be  sent  to  tell  them.  And  this  experience 
of  Bishop  Bashford's  is  being  repeated,  over  and 
over  again,  throughout  the  foreign-mission  world. 

Who's  There? 

But  there  is  yet  more  than  this.  Everywhere 
among  these  peoples,  as  one  comes  into  close 
enough  touch  to  find  their  hearts,  there  can  be 
found  underneath  the  inarticulate,  inexpressible 
yearning  for  something  they  haven't.  And  they 
don't  know  enough  to  know  what  it  is  they  long 
for.  But  they  are  conscious  of  the  constant, 
weary,  yearning  tug  within.  The  great  heart  of 
the  non-Christian  world  to-day  is  asking  dumbly, 
but  earnestly,  as  only  the  heart  can  ask,  for  the 
light  we  have.  Its  knocking  at  our  front  door 
is  growing  louder  in  its  insistent  earnestness. 

Since  Commodore  Perry  steamed  into  the 
harbor  of  Yokohama,  fifty  years  ago,  with  open 


8  8     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

Bible  and  American  flag,  and  knocked  at  the 
front  door  of  the  Orient,  the  whole  situation  has 
completely  changed.  Then  we  knocked  for 
admission  to  these  shut-in  lands.  Now  they  are 
knocking  at  our  door,  for  the  knowledge  and 
light  that  we  have  in  Christian  lands  because  we 
have  Jesus. 

May  I  call  your  attention  to  some  of  the  louder 
of  these  knockings? 

For  years  students  in  great  numbers,  thou- 
sands, have  been  coming  from  these  heathen  na- 
tions to  our  country  to  get  our  Western  learning. 
Throughout  the  colleges  and  lower  schools  of  the 
land,  both  East  and  West,  in  the  greater  universi- 
ties, and  in  the  more  modest  small  church  colleges 
they  can  be  found. 

I  remember  a  sight  that  never  failed  to  thrill 
me  in  my  visitations  among  t^e  colleges  of  our 
Central  West.  Almost  always  I  saw  one  or  more 
of  these  young  men,  from  Japan,  and  less  fre- 
quently from  China  and  India  and  other  coun- 
tries, and  sometimes  young  women,  too^  studying 
in  these  institutions.  Quite  frequently  they  came 
from  the  better  families  of  their  people;  often 
from  old  wealthy  families  of  position  and  in- 
fluence. So  that  by  blood  ties  and  position 
they  will  be  the  future  men  of  influence  ancf  leaders 
of  their  people.  And  it  is  a  notable  fact  that  many 
of  them  are  to-day  the  leaders  in  Japan.  Liter- 
ally thousands  of  them  have  come,  these  thou- 
sands of  miles  around  the  world,  to  knock  at  our 
doors,  and  ask  for  what  we  have  and  they  haven't. 


The  Present  Opportunity         89 

Even  more  striking  is  the  recent  visitation  to  us 
of  official  commissions  from  the  non-Christian 
lands.  One  after  another,  these  national  govern- 
mental deputations  have  come  to  us.  They  have 
been  composed  of  the  strongest  men 'in  these  lands, 
men  in  leading  official  position.  They  have  come 
by  government  appointment,  and  at  government 
expense,  to  learn  the  secret  of  our  marvellous 
Western  progress. 

And  in  addition  to  these  official  deputations 
others  have  come,  men  of  like  prominence  and 
influence,  coming  on  their  own  account,  to  witness 
our  civilization  and  learn  its  secrets. 

The  Coming  Great  Leaders. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  incidents  of  this 
most  remarkable  movement  has  been  the  great 
migration  of  young  Chinese  men  to  study  in  the 
colleges  of  Japan.  Within  a  very  short  space  of 
time,  as  though  by  a  concerted  movement,  fifteen 
thousand  Chinese  young  men  have  flocked  to 
Tokyo.  The  inevitable  sifting  process  has  sent 
many  back,  but  fully  ten  thousand  remain,  en- 
gaged in  earnest,  hard  study. 

Will  you  mark  very  keenly  why  they  went  to 
Japan?  Because  to  them  Japan,  in  its  new 
life,  stood  for  the  new  light  and  life  of  the  West. 
Their  Kttle,  but  mighty,  aggressive  neighbor 
on  their  eastern  shore  had  brought  to  their  very 
door  the  new  civilization  of  the  Christian  West. 

Here  was  an  unusual  opportunity.  Where 
hundreds  had  come  clear  around  the  earth  to  us. 


90     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

thousands  have  seized  this  opportunity  close  at 
hand.  They  come  from  every  province  of  China; 
even  that  farthest  away,  on  the  border  of  Tibet, 
sending  hundreds. 

The  travel  involved  thousands  of  miles.  And  if 
their  slow  means  of  travel  be  taken  into  account, 
it  meant  what  would  be  to  us  practically  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  miles.  Hundreds  of  them 
have  been  sent  by  the  provincial  and  local  govern- 
ments. Others  have  come  through  private  funds 
made  up  for  the  purpose.  And  wealthy  men 
have  sent  their  sons.  They  have  gone  to  Japan 
only  because  Japan  has  opened  her  doors  so 
widely  to  our  Christian  civilization.  It  is  not 
to  their  conqueror,  Japan,  they  have  come,  but 
to  the  civilization  which  Japan  has  imported  from 
Christian  lands. 

Was  there  ever  such  a  knocking  at  the  door  of 
the  Christian  Church  as  this?  Ten  thousand 
picked  men,  of  the  best  and  keenest  young  man- 
hood of  China,  representing  all  parts  of  the  em- 
pire, and  in  large  part  representing  the  govern- 
ment, settling  dbwn  to  years  of  close  study  of 
our  Christian  civilization  as  found  in  Japan — 
a  tremendous  fact  for  the  Church  to-day!  Things 
are  crowding  in  on  us.  It  is  the  non-Christian 
world  knocking  at  our  back  door.  It  was  too  far 
around  to  the  front.  So  they  have  commenced 
their  knocking  at  the  nearest  and  handiest  door 
they  could  find. 

Then  there  are  direct  requests  coming  constantly 
to  the  missionaries,  from  the  peoples  in  all  these 


The  Present  Opportunity         91 

lands,  earnestly  asking  and  even  pleading  that 
men  be  sent  to  teach  them  of  God  and  of  Christ. 
Whole  villages  have  been  found  in  the  fastnesses 
of  Africa's  wilds  spending  days  together,  and  all 
day  long,  on  their  knees  in  prayer;  most  of  ten  mute 
prayer  with  upturned  faces — their  very  bent  bod- 
ies their  prayer — that  news  of  the  white  man^s 
God  might  be  sent  to  them. 

In  Korea  and  other  lands  it  is  no  uncommon 
thing  for  men  and  women  to  travel  hundreds  of 
miles  by  their  slow  transportation,  or  even  to 
come  a-foot,  to  attend  gatherings  where  the  story 
of  Jesus  is  being  preached. 

And  then,  too,  there  is  the  indirect  knocking 
in  the  imitation  of  our  Western  ways,  and  throw- 
ing away  of  their  own.  Imitation  is  the  highest 
form  of  compliment  that  can  be  paid.  It  tells 
of  admiration,  and  of  a  desire  to  be  as  those  imi- 
tated. The  adapting  of  Western  learning  by 
these  conservative  Oriental  peoples,  the  establish- 
ment of  thousands  of  colleges  and  schools  on  the 
model  of  Christian  countries  is  so  radical  a  thing 
as  to  be  nothing  short  of  startling.  The  aban- 
doning of  bad  customs,  as  well  as  of  their  old 
systems  of  education,  is  as  startling.  Where 
there  were  antagonisms  there  is  now  the  friend- 
liest imitation. 

If  to  this  we  add  the  remarkable  immigration  to 
our  shores,  of  a  million  a  year,  it  intensifies  enor- 
mously the  opportunity  of  service  brought  to  us  by 
foreign  peoples.  Yet  please  notice  that  this  latter 
is  not  Asia  nor  Africa  coming  to  us,  but  Europe. 


9  2     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

However  crying  their  need  m^y  be,  these  are, 
nominally,  not  heathen  peoples,  but  chiefly  from 
Christianized  Europe.  The  Asiatics  would  have 
come  in  great  numbers,  but  that  door  was 
promptly  shut  and  carefully  locked  by  official 
hands. 

As  you  swing  your  eye  over  these  seething  masses 
of  the  heathen  world,  and  listen  to  their  voices, 
let  me  ask  you,  with  the  earnest  softness  of  tone 
that  belongs  to  the  heart,  could  there  be  a 
louder  knocking  at  the  door  of  the  Christian 
Church? 

What  Do  They  Want? 

There  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  knocking. 
But — but  what  is  it  they  are  after?  Well,  in 
plainest  talk,  they  are  after  the  thing  that  has  made 
Christian  nations  great,  great  to  the  point  of 
world -leadership  and  world-supremacy. 

Do  you  remember  the  famous  reply,  often  quot- 
ed, given  to  a  foreign  visitor  at  the  English  court  ? 
He  had  asked  the  secret  of  the  greatness  of  Eng- 
land, which  impressed  him  so  forcibly.  And  her 
gracious  majesty,  of  blessed  memory.  Queen 
Victoria,  placed  her  hand  upon  a  Bible,  and 
replied  in  the  memorable  words,  "  This  is  the 
secret  of  England's  greatness." 

Just  how  much  that  wise  woman  had  in  mind 
I  am  sure  I  do  not  know.  I  feel  very  sure  she 
did  not  refer  to  the  church  system  of  England. 
But  to  something  far  more  and  deeper  than  that, 
of  which  the  church  system  is  only  one  expression. 


The  Present  Opportunity         93 

Where  the  Bible  has  gone,  and  where  it  has  so 
largely  dominated  the  life  of  the  people,  as  in 
England,  there  has  been  both  a  moral  regenera- 
tion and,  mark  it  keenly,  a  new  mental  life.  Its 
touch  has  awakened  the  mental  powers.  There 
has  been  aroused  and  released  into  activity  that 
spirit  of  energy  which  has  become  the  most  marked 
characteristic  of  the  Western  world. 

These  two,  the  mental  life  and  the  remark- 
able energy,  lie  at  the  basis  of  all  our  wonderful 
modern  science.  And  this,  in  turn,  Hes  at  the 
basis  of  all  our  phenomenal  development.  It  is 
this  that  makes  the  West  different  from  the  East. 
The  leading  nations  are  Christian  nations.  The 
germ  of  vigorous  life  is  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 

This  is  the  thing  the  heathen  world  is  knocking 
so  earnestly  at  our  door  for  to-day.  I  do  not  say 
that  they  think  of  it  in  that  way.  They  are  just 
coming,  groping  out  of  the  darkness,  with  eyes 
blinking  and  bhnded  by  the  brightness  of  our 
light.  They  stretch  eager,  reaching  fingers  out 
toward  the  light,  without  knowing  much  about  it. 
The  glare  of  it  has  caught  them. 

And  if  they  are  caught,  moth-Hke,  and  hurt  by 
its  flame — if  they  copy  our  vile  vices,  which  are 
no  part  of  our  Christianity,  but  the  remnants  of  our 
own  original  savagery  cropping  out  in  spite  of 
Christianity — if  so,  is  it  surprising?  Their  eyes 
are  bothered  by  the  sudden  change  from  black 
darkness  to  brilliant  light. 

But  there's  a  deeper  asking.  Underneath  all, 
the  thing  they  are  really  asking  for,  all  uncon- 


94     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

sciously  most  of  them,  is  that  which  lies  at  the 
root  of  aU  our  Western  progress.  They  ask  un- 
knowingly for  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  the  heart 
of  this  precious  old  Bible.  When  they  get  that 
they  will  find  that  it  brings  the  new  awakening  of 
mental  life  and  the  new  aggressive  energy  that 
has  made  us  Christian  nations  what  we  are. 

Returning  Our  Call. 

WiU  you  please  remember  that  their  knocking 
at  our  door  is  a  direct  result  of  our  knocking  at  their 
door?  They  are  very  polite,  these  far-away 
kinsfolk  of  ours.  They  are  simply  returning  our 
call. 

The  missionary,  from  Great  Britain,  and  Amer- 
ica, and  Europe,  has  been  the  West's  pathfinder 
in  these  foreign-mission  lands.  He  has  blazed  a 
way  into  these  thick  woods,  and  beaten  down 
narrow  foot-paths  through  them.  It's  been  hard, 
heroic  work.  The  pathfinder  has  often  gotten  his 
hands  and  face  badly  torn  by  the  thick  brambly 
thorn  bushes  as  he  pushed  resolutely  on. 

Then  diplomacy  entered  and  broadened  the 
roads.  And  commerce  quickly  came  and  beat 
them  down  into  good  hard  shape  for  easy  travel. 
And  in  turn  the  missionaries  have  freely  used  the 
broader,  better  roads. 

And  now  these  roads  are  being  trodden  by  other 
feet,  and  in  an  opposite  direction.  Along  the 
pathways  made  by  the  Church,  and  made  better 
by  diplomacy  and  commerce,  these  peoples  are 
coming,  coming  a-running,  to  ask  us  to  give  them 


The  Present  Opportunity         95 

what  we  have.     We  received  it  from  Another. 
He  bade  us  give  it  as  freely  as  we  received  it. 

Here  they  come  eagerly  knocking  at  our  doors, 
front  door,  and  back  door,  and  wherever  there  is  a 
door.     Do  you  hear  them  ? 

Ah!  The  great  question  to-day  is  not  a  ques- 
tion for  the  heathen  world,  but  for  the  Christian 
Church — shall  we  respond  to  the  opportunity 
they  are  flinging  in  our  faces?  To-day  there 
are  more  hands  in  heathen  lands  stretched  out 
for  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  than  there  are  Christian 
hands  stretched  out  with  the  Gospel.  More 
hearts  in  those  far-away  lands  are  dumbly  pray- 
ing for  the  light  than  there  are  of  us  praying  that 
they  may  receive  the  light — far  more. 

The  greatest  question  for  the  Church  to-day  is — 
shall  we  enter  the  open  door  ?  And  this  is  a  key- 
question,  too.  Its  answer  includes  a  full  satis- 
factory answer  to  all  the  other  questions  we  are 
discussing.  All  questions  of  finance,  of  uncertain 
wabbling  pulpit  voices,  of  careless  and  indifferent 
or  empty  pews,  and  of  city  evangelization  will 
quickly  find  an  answer  as  the  Church  fully  and 
faithfully  answers  this.  Here  is  the  work  that, 
if  done,  and  well  done,  will  bring  a  new  circulation 
of  blood  into  the  whole  life  of  the  Church. 

Have  you  noticed  the  sharp  contrast  that  there 
is  gradually  growing  up  between  the  way  people  at 
home  and  these  foreign  peoples  are  receiving  the 
Gospel?  Out  there  there  is  an  openness  to  the 
truth,  an  eager  willingness  to  believe  it  simply, 
and  to  act  upon  it,  that  suggests  the  way  they  did 


g6     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

in  the  Book  of  Acts.  In  our  home-lands  of 
America  and  Great  Britain  and  Germany  there 
seems  to  be  either  indifference,  or  an  atmosphere  of 
quibble  and  criticism.  With  questions  and  doubts 
naturalistic  explanations  are  sought  that  do  away 
with  much  of  the  simple  force  of  God's  truth. 

A  like  difference  is  showing  itself  between  the 
results  there  and  here.  Here  they  are  scantier, 
and  gotten  with  great  difficulty;  there  much 
larger,  and  with  greater  ease.  There  the  door  is 
wide-open,  and  people  crowding  in;  here  there  is 
a  feeling  that  the  door  is  closing,  surely  and  not 
slowly  people  turn  away  elsewhere.  There  has 
come  to  be  an  unusual  proportion  of  pickles  and 
salads  and  other  relishes  served  with  every  spread- 
ing of  the  Gospel  meal  here.  There,  just  plain 
unbuttered  bread  is  eagerly  and  thankfully  sought 
for.  They  are  hungry.  And  their  hunger  is  a 
wide-open  door  to  us.  We  need  the  exercise  of 
foreign  travel,  and  a  great  deal  of  it,  to  bring  back 
our  zest. 

*^  Inasmuch.^^ 


May  I  speak  very  softly  of  another  side  of  this 
knocking  at  our  door  ?  Who  is  it  that  is  knocking  ? 
Aye,  Who  ? 

Do  you  remember  Jesus'  words  in  Matthew,  chap- 
ter twenty-five  ?  He  is  speaking  of  the  settling-up 
time  that  is  to  come  at  the  close  of  things.  And 
He  does  something  there  that  is  starding.  He 
identifies  Himself  with  the  hungry  and  cold  and 
poor.    That  is,  He  puts  Himself  in  their  place. 


The  Present  Opportunity         97 

They  are  reckoned  as  though  they  were  He. 
He  says  that  when  they  asked  for  some  food  and 
warm  clothes  it  was  really  Himself  asking  for  food 
and  warmth!  We  have  been  really  dealing  with 
Him  when  we  have  met  these  needy  ones.  The 
one  test  question  He  makes  for  all  is  this — ^What 
did  you  do  for  these  hungry  people?  Because 
what  you  did,  or  didn't  do  for  them,  was  done  or 
refused  to  Me.  Jesus  comes  in  the  guise  of  the 
needy.  Who  is  it  knocTdng  at  our  door  so  loudly 
to-day? 

I  suppose  if  you  could  think  of  Jesus  actually 
coming  to-day  to  New  York,  the  human  Jesus  I 
mean,  coming  as  a  man  just  as  He  came  to  Jeru- 
salem, but  known  to  us  as  He  is  now — I  suppose 
there  is  hardly  a  door  that  would  not  open  to  Him. 
He  might  not  be  an^  better  understood  in  New 
York  than  He  was  in  Jerusalem,  but  the  doors 
of  the  wealthy  would  quickly  open  to  Him.  I 
mean  the  Christian  wealthy,  the  Church  wealthy; 
other  doors,  too,  no  doubt,  but  these  surely.  He 
would  have  a  great  welcome. 

And  I  suppose,  too,  that  if  in  some  wealthy 
home  on  Fifth  Avenue  or  Madison  Avenue 
He  were  to  ask  His  host  to  give  some  large  sum, 
a  million  dollars  or  ten  millions,  for  sending  the 
Gospel  to  China  or  Japan  His  request  would  likely 
be  granted.  It  seems  to  me  rather  probable  that 
it  would.  Well,  how  can  it  be  put  plainly  enough 
that  He  does  come  to  our  doors,  rich,  and  less  rich, 
and  poor.  He^s  at  the  front  door  now,  knocking 
and  asking  our  help. 
7 


9  8     Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

In  these  heathen  peoples  of  His,  Jesus  comes  to 
us.  And  we  have  been  giving  Him — shall  I  say  it 
very  softly  for  sheer  shame  ? — we  have  given,  not 
all,  but  most  of  us,  what  is  practically  the  loose 
change  in  our  trousers'  pocket;  not  actually,  of 
course;  sometimes  even  that.  We  have  spent  more 
on  everything  else.  We  have  made  up  boxes  of 
cast-off  clothes  and  old  shoes  for — Jesus!  This 
has  been  a  large  part  of  our  answer.  Is  it  any 
wonder  the  hot  blood  sends  the  color  climbing 
into  our  cheeks  at  the  thought,  and  that  we  in- 
stinctively seek  for  some  explanation  that  will 
soften  the  hard  rub  of  the  truth ! 

I  found  a  bit  of  a  poem  in  a  magazine  some 
time  ago  that  caught  fire  as  I  read  it.  It  was 
written,  I  judge,  in  a  personal  sense;  but  it  came 
to  me  at  once  with  a  wider  meaning;  and  it  per- 
sists in  so  coming  at  every  reading  of  it. 

In  this  poem  there  is  some  one  knocking  at 
a  door  for  admission,  and  a  voice  without  calls, 

" '  Friend,  open  to  Me.'    Who  is  this  that  calls  ? 

Nay,  I  am  deaf  as  are  my  walls; 

Cease  crying,  for  I  will  not  hear 

Thy  cry  of  hope  or  fear. 

What  art  thou  indeed 

That  I  should  heed 

Thy  lamentable  need? 

Hungry,  should  feed, 

Or  stranger,  lodge  thee  here? 

But  the  voice  persists — 

"  'Friend,  My  feet  bleed. 

Open  thy  door  to  Me  and  comfort  Me.* 


The  Present  Opportunity         99 

"  I  win  not  open;  trouble  me  no  more. 

Go  on  thj  way  footsore, 

I  will  not  arise  and  open  unto  thee. 

And  still  the  pleading, 

"  *  Then  is  it  nothing  to  thee  ?     Open,  see 

Who  stands  to  plead  with  thee. 

Open,  lest  I  should  pass  thee  by,  and  them. 

One  day  entreat  My  face 

And  cry  for  grace. 

And  I  be  deaf  as  thou  art  now; 

Open  to  Me.' 

"  Then  I  cried  out  upon  him:     Cease, 

Leave  me  in  peace; 

Fear  not  that  I  should  crave 

Aught  thou  may'st  have. 

Leave  me  in  peace,  yea,  trouble  me  no  more, 

Lest  I  arise  and  chase  thee  from  my  door. 

What!  shall  I  not  be  let 

Alone,  that  thou  dost  vex  me  yet  ? 

"But  all  night  long  that  voice  spake  urgently — 

*Open  to  Me.' 

Still  harping  in  mine  ears — 

*Rise,  let  Me  in.' 

Pleading  with  tears — 

*Open  to  Me,  that  I  may  come  to  thee.' 

While  the  dew  dropp'd,  while  the  dark  hours 

were  cold — 
*My  feet  bleed,  see  My  Face, 
See  My  hands  bleed  that  bring  thee  grace, 
My  heart  doth  bleed  for  thee — 
Open  to  Me.' 

"So,  till  the  break  of  day; 
Then  died  away 

That  voice,  in  silence  as  of  sorrow; 
Then  footsteps  echoing  like  a  sigh 


I  oo    Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

Pass'd  me  by; 

Lingering  footsteps,  slow  to  pass. 

On  the  morrow 

I  saw  upon  tlie  grass 

Each  footprint  mark'd  in  blood,  and  on  my  door 

The  mark  oj  blood  forevennore.'"  ^ 

That   same  voice  still  comes  with  a  strangely 
gentle  persistence — 

"Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it 

Unto  one  of  these  my  brethren,  even  these  least, 

Ye  did  it  unto  Me. 

*'  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not 
Unto  one  of  these  least. 
Ye  did  it  w(?/ unto  Me."* 

^Christina   Rossetti,    in    The   Ouihok,   slightly   altered. 
*  Matthew  25:40,  45. 


THE  PRESSING  EMERGENCY 


The  October  Panic.  | 

Danger  and  Victory  Eying  Each  Other. 
Spirit  Contests.  i 

A  Westernized  Heathenism.  ! 

A  Crisis  of  Neglect  and  Success. 
A  Powerless  Christianity.  i 

Death  or  Deep  Water.  | 

Saved  by  Saving.  i 


The   Pressing   Emergency 


The  October  Panic. 

A  man  walked  up  the  steps  of  a  well-known 
bank  in  lower  New  York  one  morning,  about  a 
half-hour  before  opening-time,  and  stood  before 
the  shut  door.  In  a  few  minutes  another  came, 
and  stood  waiting  beside  him.  Others  came,  one 
by  one,  until  soon  a  small  group  stood  in  line, 
waiting  for  the  door  to  open. 
■  A  messenger  boy,  coming  down  the  street,  quickly 
took  in  the  unusual  sight.  He  wasn't  old  enough 
to  have  been  through  any  of  New  York's  notable 
panics,  and  he  had  never  witnessed  a  run  on  a 
bank;  but  quick  as  a  flash,  or  as  a  Wall-Street 
messenger  boy,  he  knew  as  though  by  instinct 
that  a  run  was  on  at  that  bank.  Instantly  he 
started  running  down  the  street  to  tell  others. 

No  prairie  wild-fire  ever  spread  so  quickly  as  the 
news  ran  o^^er  'phone  wires  of  the  beginning  of  that 
run.  As  though  by  some  sort  of  invisible  ether- 
waves,  the  news  seemed  to  spread  through  the 
financial  district.  Every  bank  president  seemed 
to  know  at  once.  Then  it  spread  throughout  the 
city,  and  the  greater  city. 

So  began  what  has  been  called  the  October 
103 


1 04    Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

panic  of  last  year,  which  quickly  spread  through 
the  land,  and  then  throughout  the  world  until 
every  country  bank  here,  and  every  capital  city 
abroad,  felt  the  sharp  tightening  of  the  money-bag 
strings. 

It  was  a  strange  panic.  You  couldn't  just 
tell  what  was  responsible  for  it.  The  very 
variety  of  explanations,  editorial  and  other,  told  of 
the  lack  of  a  common  understanding  of  what 
caused  it.  There  had  been  no  famine  or  drought. 
The  crops,  the  chief  financial  barometer  of  the 
country's  condition,  had  been  remarkably  abun- 
dant. There  had  been  no  overproduction  or 
glutting  of  the  industrial  world.  Indeed,  great 
numbers  of  concerns  had  been  embarrassed  by 
orders  that  they  couldn't  fill  fast  enough.  The 
cause  seemed  to  be  wholly  in  people's  minds. 
A  spirit  of  distrust  of  some  of  the  great  money 
leaders  and  of  their  methods  was  abroad.  That 
feeling  of  fear  sent  a  few  men,  by  an  unplanned 
concert  of  action,  to  a  certain  t)ank  before  ten 
o'clock  one  morning. 

The  unusual  sight  of  a  few  men  standing  in 
line  waiting  for  the  opening  of  that  bank  door  was 
Hke  a  lighted  match  to  a  barn  full  of  dry  hay.  At 
the  first  inkling  of  a  suggestion  of  a  financial  panic 
money  began  to  disappear.  Nothing  is  so 
cowardly  in  its  cautiousness  as  money.  Scholar- 
ship comes  next  to  it.  The  savings  of  years  have 
the  tightest  grip  on  most  human  hands.  As 
though  by  magic,  money  began  hunting  dark 
holes  in  stockings  and  cellars  and  safety-deposit 


The  Pressing  Emergency        105 

boxes.  And  the  hard  grip  of  the  panic  was  quickly 
felt  everywhere.  It  was  a  fear  panic.  A  terrible 
danger  was  at  hand. 

At  once  the  regular  habit  of  life  was  disturbed 
for  great  numbers  of  men.  The  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  quit  his  Washington  desk  and  spent 
several  days  in  New  York  so  as  to  be  able  to  give 
the  help  of  the  Government's  funds  and  enormous 
prestige  where  they  would  count  for  most,  and  to 
give  promptly.  Bank  officials  and  other  finan- 
cial leaders  cut  social  engagements  and  every- 
thing else  that  could  be  cut,  and  devoted  them- 
selves to  meeting  the  sudden  emergency.  They 
ate  scantily,  both  to  save  time  and  for  lack  of  appe- 
tite, and  to  help  keep  their  heads  clear  for  quick 
decisive  thinking  and  action.  The  tension  was 
intense.  Men  sat  up  all  night  conferring  on  best 
measures. 

A  group  of  the  leading  money  men  met  in  the 
private  quarters  of  one  of  their  numbers,  about 
whose  rugged  personality  and  leadership  they 
instinctively  rallied.  More  than  one  night  the 
gray  dawning  fight  of  the  morning  found  them, 
with  white,  drawn  faces,  still  in  conference.  The 
emergency  gripped  them.  An  emergency  always 
does.  The  habits  of  fife  are  upset,  helter-skelter, 
in  the  effort  to  avert  the  threatening  danger. 
That  was  an  emergency  in  the  money  world. 
Grave  danger  threatened.  Everything  else  was 
forgotten,  and  every  bit  of  available  resource 
strained  to  turn  the  danger  aside.  It  was  turned 
aside.    That  was  a  splendid  achievement.     And 


1 06    Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

even  though  men  have  been  feeling  the  effects  for 
this  whole  year,  what  they  have  felt  is  as  nothing 
compared  with  what  might  have  come. 

Danger  and  Victory  Eying  each  other. 

An  emergency  means  a  great  danger  threatening, 
perhaps  the  very  Hfe.  But  it  means,  too,  that  if 
the  danger  can  be  gripped  and  overcome  there 
will  be  great  victory.  Two  possibiUties  come  up 
close  and  stare  each  other  angrily  in  the  face;  the 
possibihty  of  great  disaster  impending,  and  of  great 
victory  over  it  within  grasp,  if  there  be  a  reaching 
hand  to  grasp  it.  The  deciding  thing  is  the  hu- 
man element,  the  strong,  quick  hand  stretched  out. 
If  strength  can  be  concentrated,  the  situation 
gripped,  then  great  victory  is  assured.  But  it 
takes  the  utmost  concentration  of  strength,  with 
rare  wisdom  and  quick  steady  action,  to  turn  the 
tide  toward  flood.  If  this  is  not  done,  either 
because  of  lack  of  leadership  or  of  enough  strength 
or  enough  interest,  disaster  comes. 

Just  such  emergencies  come  to  us  constantly. 
A  severe  iUness  lays  its  hand  upon  a  loved  one  in 
the  home.  The  crisis  comes.  Death  and  life 
stand  in  the  sick-room  eying  each  other.  Either 
one  may  be  victor.  No  one  can  tell  surely  which 
it  wiU  be.  And  every  effort  is  strained,  the  habit 
of  hfe  broken,  other  matters  forgotten  and  neg- 
lected, that  death  may  be  staved  off,  and  life 
wooed  to  stay.  And  when  the  crisis  passes  safely 
the  joy  over  the  new  lease  of  Hfe  makes  one  forget 
all  the  cost  of  strain  and  effort. 


The  Pressing  Emergency        1 07 

Who  of  us  cannot  recall  some  time  back  there, 
when  some  emergency  came  in  personal  business 
matters,  and  personal  and  home  expenses  and 
plans  were  cut  down  to  the  lowest  notch,  to  the 
bleeding-point,  that  the  emergency  might  be 
safely  met. 

Teachers  and  parents  know  that  moral  emer- 
gencies come  at  intervals  in  a  child's  life,  until 
young  manhood  and  womanhood  are  reached. 
One  of  the  greatest  tasks  in  child-training  is  to  note 
the  emergency,  and  meet  it  successfully.  And 
what  keenness  and  patience  and  subtlety  it  does 
take  only  he  knows  who  has  been  through  the 
experience. 

Spirit  Contests. 

Emergencies  come  in  spiritual  matters,  too. 
They  are  the  hardest  kind  to  meet.  It  is  hardest 
to  make  people  see  them  and  grip  them.  In  the 
life  of  many  a  church  a  spiritual  emergency  has 
come,  but  has  not  been  met.  The  church  goes  on 
holding  services,  raising  money  and  paying  it  out, 
going  through  all  the  proper  forms,  but  with  the 
life  itself  quite  gone  out  of  it.  The  thing  is  being 
kept  in  motion  by  a  humanly  manipulated  electric 
current;  there  is  no  free  life-movement. 

Evangelistic  leaders  say  that  such  emergencies 
come  in  their  campaigning.  There  has  to  be  a 
struggle  of  spirit  forces.  And  the  victory  that 
comes,  comes  only  as  a  result  of  close  haud-to- 
hand  conflict  of  soul  by  the  leaders. 

We  all  know  that  such  crises  come  in  our  per- 


I  o  8    Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

sonal  experience.  And  those  who  know  about 
changing  things  by  prayer  do  not  need  to  be  told  of 
the  emergency  that  comes  at  times;  nor  of  how  it 
requires  a  tightening  of  all  the  buckles,  a  new  re- 
viewing of  the  promises  on  which  prayer  rests,  a 
new  steadying  of  one's  faith,  a  quietly  persistent 
hanging  on,  an  intenser  insistence  of  spirit  in  prayer 
and  more  arrow-praying  in  the  daily  round  of  work 
— sending  out  the  softly  breathed  heart^pleadings 
while  busy  with  common  duties,  until  the  assur- 
ance comes  that  the  danger  is  past  and  the  victory 
secure. 

It  is  remarkable  to  what  an  extent  the  great 
events  of  history  have  been  emergency  events. 
With  the  greatest  reverence^  it  can  be  said  that 
history's  central  event,  the  dying  of  Jesus,  was  an 
emergency  action.  Even  though  we  understand 
clearly  that  it  was  known  and  counselled  from 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  that  He  was 
to  shed  His  precious  blood  for  our  salvation.  His 
dying  can  never  be  fully  understood  save  as  a 
great  emergency  measure,  the  great  emergency 
measure,  because  of  the  crisis  made  by  sin. 

Now  that  is  the  sort  of  thing — an  emergency — 
that  is  now  on  in  this  great  task  of  world-wide 
evangelization  which  Jesus  has  committed  to  our 
hands.  Some  of  you  may  be  strongly  rncHned  to 
lift  your  eyebrows  and  ask — Is  there  really  any 
such  emergency?  I  know  that  people  don't  Hke 
thosewords  ''crisis"and  '^emergency."  It  ismuch 
more  comfortable  to  think  that  things  are  going  on 
very  smoothly  and  well.     Even  though  all  is  not 


The  Pressing  Emergency       109 

just  as  we  might  choose  to  have  it,  yet  we  like  to 
think  that  it  will  turn  out  well.  There  is  a  sort 
of  optimism  that  is  very  popular.  Things  will 
all  come  out  right  somehow,  we  like  to  think. 
But  the  fact  is  that  things  don't  turn  out  right  of 
themselves.  They  have  to  be  turned  by  some- 
body who  gives  heart  and  life  to  the  turning. 

It  can  be  said  with  sane,  sober  sense  that 
without  doubt  there  is  an  emergency,  and  a  great 
one,  in  this  foreign-mission  enterprise.  It  is,  of 
course,  true  that  in  a  sense  there  is  a  continual 
emergency  here.  There  are  thousands  of  these 
foreign  brothers  of  ours  slipping  the  tether  of  life 
daily.  The  light  might  easily  have  been  taken  to 
them,  and  have  changed  their  choices.  But  then  it 
hasn't  been,  and  the  dark  shadow  of  the  possibility 
of  their  separating  themselves  forever  from  God, 
through  wrong  choice  persisted  in,  hangs  down 
over  each  one  of  them.  There  can  be  no  darker 
shadow  except  the  actual  knowledge  that  they 
have  so  separated  themselves  from  life  in  Him. 

A  Crisis  of  Neglect  and  Success. 

But  quite  distinct  from  that,  and  in  addition  to  it, 
it  is  quite  safe  to  say  that  there  is  an  emergency 
now  on  in  the  heathen  world  such  as  it  has  never 
known  before.  Such  is  the  mature  judgment 
of  our  missionary  leaders. 

And  we  do  well  to  remind  ourselves  that  we 
have  some  remarkable  men  among  these  leaders. 
There  are  men  on  the  foreign  fields  and  at  the 
missionary  helm  at  home    of    most  remarkable 


1 1  o  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

abilit}^  and  genius.  There  are  to-day  men  of 
statesmanlike  grasp  and  power,  who  could  easily 
have  taken  front  rank  in  public  life,  in  diplomacy, 
and  professional  life,  men  fully  able  to  fill  the 
Presidential  chair  and  do  it  masterfully,  who  are 
giving  their  life-blood  to  this  great  missionary 
task. 

The  sober  judgment  of  these  men,  taken  from 
every  angle  of  vision,  is  that  the  present  is  a  time  of 
imparalleled  emergency.  It  exists  peculiarly  in 
Asia,  the  greatest  of  all  foreign-mission  lands.  It 
has  been  caused  by  a  number  of  things  that  now 
come  together  with  such  force  as  to  make  a  crisis, 
the  crisis  of  missions,  the  gravest  that  has  yet 
come,  and  that,  it  is  probably  safe  to  say,  will  ever 
come.  For  the  future  will  be  largely  settled,  one 
way  or  the  other,  within  a  few  years. 

At  the  basis  of  all  is  the  great  need,  of  course. 
That  looms  big  and  gaunt  and  spectral  in  any 
survey  of  the  matter. 

Then  the  neglect  by  the  Church  for  many  genera- 
tions has  greatly  intensified  the  present  situation. 
The  Master's  plan  plainly  is  that  every  genera- 
tion of  the  Church  shall  give  the  Gospel  to  its 
generation ;  that  is,  to  all  the  people  living  in  the 
world  at  that  time.  Every  generation  of  men 
must  have  the  Gospel  afresh.  No  land  is  beyond 
the  need  of  a  fresh  gospehzing.  If  Christian 
America  were  to  lose  its  churches  and  the  Gos- 
pel, it  would  surely  revert  to  the  heathen  type 
from  which   we   sprung. 

But  many  generations  went  by  with  practically 


The  Pressing  Emergency       1 1 1 

nothing  of  this  sort  being  done.  These  genera- 
tions of  inactivity  have  piled  up  on  the  present 
generation.  The  undone  work  of  the  past  adds 
greatly  to  the  task  of  the  present.  The  present 
situation  is  abnormal  because  of  what  hasn't  been 
done. 

Then  the  success  of  the  present  has  played  a 
big  part.  Modern  missionary  activity  has  had  a 
big  share  in  making  this  emergency.  A  century 
of  missions  is  reaching  a  tremendous  climax.  The 
splendid  aggressiveness  of  church  leaders  and 
missionaries  is  now  an  embarrassment  to  a  Church, 
or  any  one  in  the  Church,  who  doesn't  want  to 
keep  up  the  pace.  It  is  an  emergency  of  success, 
the  logical  result  of  what  has  been  accomplished. 
So  much  has  been  done,  and  been  done  so  well  by 
a  comparatively  few,that  now  more  must  be  done 
by  the  rest  of  us. 

It's  because  the  heathen  world  is  awake  that 
there  is  an  emergency.  Their  awakeness  is  the 
thing  that  crowds  in  on  us.  And  we  waked  them 
up.  We  must  now  do  more  and  better,  because 
we  have  done  so  well.  We  have  indeed  waked 
them  up,  but — to  what?  A  business  man  would 
stamp  it  as  rank  foolishness  to  fail  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  splendid  opening  that  we  have  made  in 
the  foreign-mission  world. 

A  Westernized  Heathenism, 

Now,  let  us  look  just  a  bit  at  this  present 
pressing  emergency.  There  are  grave  perils 
threatening,  and  a  great  victory  possible. 


1 1 2  Q  uiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

Well,  first  of  all  there  is  real  danger  of  a  new 
aggressive  heathenism;  a  new,  energetic,  but  dis- 
tfnctly  iin-Christian  civilization  in  the  heathen 
world.  Many  thoughtful  men  who  are  keenly  watch- 
ing the  world  movement  believe  that  without  doubt 
there  is  to  be  a  new  leadership  of  the  human  race 
in  the  Orient.  It  may  be  a  heathen  leadership. 
That  danger  is  a  distinct  possibiHty.  The  new 
world-leadership  may  have  all  the  enormous 
energy  and  mental  keenness  of  Christian  peoples, 
but  without  the  Christian  spirit. 

That  means  practically  a  new  heathenism,  no 
longer  asleep  but  wide-awake;  no  longer  being 
manipulated  by  the  Western  nations,  but  maybe 
manipulating  and  managing  them.  An  aroused, 
organized,  energized  heathen  world,  with  all  the 
science  and  inventiveness  and  restless  aggressive- 
ness of  the  western  nations  and,  mark  you — and 
all  the  spirit  of  the  old.  Godless,  Chrisdess 
heathenism  dominating  its  new  life — that  is  the 
danger. 

The  heathen  world  is  awake  at  last  after  a  sleep 
of  centuries.  It  is  sitting  up,  rubbing  its  eyes, 
and  taking  notice.  It  is  entering  upon  a  new  life. 
That's  as  clear  as  a  sunbeam  on  a  cloudless 
morning.  What  that  life  shall  be  depends  entirely 
on  the  Church  waking  up.  That  means,  to  be 
more  practical,  that  it  depends  on  you  and  me 
waking  up,  just  now,  and  doing  what  we  easily  can. 
It  may  be  a  new  Christian  life,  shot  through  and 
through  with  the  blessed  principles  and  spirit  of 
Jesus.    It  may  be  a  new  life  of  energized.  Western- 


The  Pressing  Emergency       113 

ized  heathenism!  They  may  get  merely  our 
energy  and  mental  awakeness  without  the  Chris- 
tian spirit  that  gave  these  to  us. 

These  two  opposite  things  are  standing  by  the 
bedside  eying  each   other.     Which   will  get  the 

patient?    Who  knows?    If  the  Church  fail ! 

This  is  a  real  peril  seriously  threatening.  It  is 
probably  far  more  grave  and  far  more  likely  than 
the  best-informed  and  keenest  observer  is  aware 
of. 

A  Powerless  Christianity. 

Then  there  is  a  second  danger  climbing  in  fast 
on  the  heels  of  this,  that  is  already  being  plainly 
felt.  These  peoples  may  turn  away  from  a 
Christianity  that  seems  powerless  to  them.  As 
they  come  to  know  better  the  simple  principles 
of  our  faith  they  may  see  that  we  are  not  true  to  it. 
Our  Master  bade  us  go  everywhere  and  tell  all 
men  of  Him,  and  tell  them  most  and  best  by 
the  way  we  live.  But  we  haven't  done  it.  The 
Church  of  the  past  nineteen  centuries,  taken  as  a 
whole,  hasn't  done  it.  The  Church  to-day,  taken 
as  a  whole,  isn't  doing  it. 

How  many  times  have  the  missionaries  been 
obliged  to  listen  to  the  question,  which  is  a  re- 
proach rather  than  a  question,  "Why  didn't 
you  come  before?  My  father  lived  and  died  in 
distress,  seeking  for  this  light  you  bring  us  now. 
Why  didn't  your  father  come  and  tell  my  father?  ^^ 
If  they  find  that  our  faith  hasn't  gripped  us  enough 
to  master  our  lives  they  will  naturally  doubt  if, 
8 


1 1 4  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

after  all,  there  is  any  more  real  practical  power 
in  it  than  in  their  own  heathen  beliefs. 

It  seems  better  in  theory,  but  it  seems  to  lose 
its  ideals  in  the  stiff  test  of  practice.  They  would 
be  wrong  in  thinking  that,  of  course.  But  what 
conclusion  more  natural  to  the  crowd  that  never 
thinks  deep.  When  all  the  difficulties  and  hard- 
ships come  in  the  way  of  their  acceptance  of  Christ, 
and  the  easiest  way  is  not  to,  how  easy  to  throw 
the  whole  thing  aside. 

The  story  is  told  of  a  Chinaman  in  this 
country  who  applied  for  a  position  as  house-ser- 
vant in  a  family  which  belonged  to  a  fashionable 
church.     He  was  asked: 

"Do  you  drink  whiskey?" 

"No,  I  Clistian  man." 

"Do  you  play  cards?" 

"No,  I  CHstian  man." 

He  was  engaged,  and  proved  to  be  a  capable 
servant.  By  and  by  the  lady  gave  a  bridge- 
party,  with  wine  accompaniments.  The  China- 
man did  his  part  acceptably,  but  the  next  morning 
he  appeared  before  his  mistress. 

"I  want  quit,"  he  said. 

"Why?    What  is  the  matter?" 

" I  Clistian  man.  I  told  you  so  before;  no  hea- 
then; no  workee  for  'Melican  heathen." 

These  heathen  brothers  of  ours  are  not  fools. 
They  are  a  keen  lot.  They  judge  our  religion  by 
us  who  profess  it,  as  we  do  with  them  and  theirs. 
There  may  come  a  wide-spread  practical  dis- 
belief, or  lack  of  belief,  that  there  is  any  practical 


The  Pressing  Emergency       1 1 5 

power  in  Christ  to  change  a  man's  life,  and  really 
control  his  actions.  And  it  will  be  a  perfectly  logi- 
cal conclusion  from  what  they  find  in  us  Christian 
nations  as  a  whole. 

Death  or  Deep  Water. 

And  then  there  are  some  mighty  bad  dangers 
on  the  other  side — our  side.  If  it  be  true  that  every 
generation  needs  the  Gospel,  it  is  just  as  true  that 
every  generation  of  Christians  needs  to  give  the 
Gospel.  It  is  the  very  life  of  a  Christian  to  give 
himself  out  in  earnest  service  for  others.  The 
man  who  is  failing  there  has  started  on  the  down 
grade  in  his  Christian  life.  If  we  lose  the  spirit 
of  ''go"  we  have  lost  the  very  Christian  spirit  itself. 
A  disobedient  church  will  become  a  dead  church. 
It  will  die  of  heart  failure. 

It  was  John's  Man  with  eyes  of  searching  flame, 
and  tongue  of  keen-edged  sword,  and  feet  that 
had  been  through  the  fire,  who  said  to  a  Christian 
church,  "I  will  move  thy  candlestick  out  of  its 
place  except  thou  change  thy  ways."  ^  The  can- 
dlestick isn't  the  Hght.  It  holds  the  light.  The 
Church's  great  mission  is  to  be  the  world's  light- 
holder. 

But  unsnuffed  candles  and  cobwebby  window- 
panes  seem  to  have  been  in  evidence  sometimes. 
The  Christian  Church  in  some  lands  has  plainly 
lost  its  privilege  of  service,  and  lost  its  life,  too. 
The  old  organizations  are  kept  up,  but  all  Hfe 
has  gone.    There's  a  grave  danger  threatening 

1  Revelation  2:5. 


1 1 6  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

the  American  Church  and  the  British  Church 
just  at  this  present  time. 

Long  years  ago,  in  the  days  before  steam  navi- 
gation, an  ocean  vessel  came  from  a  long  sea  voy- 
age, up  St.  George's  Channel,  headed  for  Liver- 
pool. When  the  pilot  vi^as  taken  on  board,  he 
cried  abruptly  to  thecaptain, "  Whatdo  you  mean? 
You've  let  her  drift  off  toward  the  Welsh  coast, 
toward  the  shallows.  Muster  the  crew."  The 
crew  was  quickly  mustered,  and  the  pilot  told  the 
danger  in  a  few  short  words,  and  then  said  sharply, 
"Boys,  it's  death  or  deep  water,  hoist  the  mains'l!" 
And  only  by  dint  of  hardest  work  was  the  ship 
saved. 

If  I  could  get  the  ear  of  the  Church  to-day,  I 
would,  as  a  great  kindness  to  it,  cry  out  with  all  the 
earnestness  of  soul  I  could  command,  ''  Ws  death 
or  deep  water;  deep  water  in  this  holy  service  of 
world-winning,  or  death  from  foundering." 

Saved  hy  Saving. 

And  then  there's  a  yet  graver  peril  threatening. 
It's  quite  the  common  thing  to  appeal  to  selfish 
motives.  It  is  striking  that  the  great  strides  that 
prohibition  has  made  of  recent  years,  have  been 
due  to  a  sort  of  legislation  and  to  business  regula- 
tion that  appeal  to  selfish  motives.  The  eco- 
nomic motive,  and  the  disagreeable  and  injurious 
likelihood  of  a  saloon  being  close  to  one's  own 
home,  have  had  greater  influence  than  higher 
moral  motives.  And  we  are  glad  of  any  motive 
that  will  put  the  damnable  traffic  down  and  out. 


The  Pressing  Emergency        1 1 7 

Well,  I'm  going  to  come  down  a  step  here,  and 
remind  you  of  a  yet  graver  peril  that  threatens. 
There  is  serious  danger  of  a  heathenized  Christian- 
ity dominating  our  boasted  Christian  civilization 
and  Christian  lands.  And  in  time  that  would  be 
a  serious  menace  to  our  pocket-books. 

That  is  to  say,  there  may  be  the  energy  and  keen 
mental  life  without  the  mellowing  and  sweetening 
influence  of  the  Christian  spirit.  The  restless 
aggressiveness  may  come  without  the  poise;  the 
ceaseless  activity  without  the  deeper  steadying 
quahty;  the  keenness  without  the  softening  touch 
of  the  true  life.  In  other  words,  if  we  don't 
Christianize  heathendom,  they  will  exert  an  in- 
fluence on  us  that  will  practically  amount  to  their 
heathenizing  Christendom. 

Already  such  influences  are  seeping  in  at  more 
than  one  crack.  Mohammedanism  has  an  ac- 
tive propaganda  in  Great  Britain.  Heathen 
wedges  are  slipping  their  thin  edges  in,  in  our  land. 
More  and  more  it  will  extend,  in  time  influencing 
our  whole  moral  fabric,  and  affecting  our  whole 
national  life. 

During  some  recent  researches  among  the  ruins 
of  Pompeii  the  explorers  turned  up  a  find  that 
told  its  own  story.  It  was  the  body  of  a  crippled 
boy.  He  was  lame  in  his  foot.  And  around  the 
body  there  was  a  woman's  arm,  a  finely  shaped, 
beautiful,  bejewelled  arm.  The  mute  find  told 
its  simple  story.  The  great  stream  of  fire  sudden- 
ly coming  from  the  volcano,  the  crowd  fleeing  for 
life,  the  little  cripple  unable  to  get  along  fast 


1 1 8   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

enough,  the  woman's  heart  touched,  her  arm 
thrown  about  the  boy  to  aid  his  escape;  then  the 
overtaking  fire-flood,  and  both  lost.  The  arm 
that  was  stretched  out  to  save  another  was  pre- 
served, and  only  that.  All  the  rest  of  the  brave 
rescuer's  body  had  gone.  The  saving  part  was 
saved.  Only  that  mercifully  outstretched  to 
save  another  was  itself  saved. 

The  Church  or  the  man  that  selfishly  saveth 
his  life  shall  lose  it.  He  that  forgetteth  about  his 
own  life  in  eagerly  saving  others  shall  find  that  he 
has  saved  his  own  life,  and  that  it  has  grown  into 
a  new  fulness  and  richness  of  life. 

These  are  some  of  the  dark  ugly  faces  peering 
into  ours.  But  there's  another  face  among  them. 
It  is  a  very  bright  face,  with  eyes  all  aglow,  and 
features  all  shining  with  light.  It  is  the  face  of 
victory  over  every  danger  and  difficulty  that 
threatens.  Many  believe  that  the  emergency  will 
be  met.  The  victory  will  surely  be  achieved. 
But  the  fact  to  mark  keenly,  just  now,  is  that  it 
will  be  achieved  only  by  a  vigorous,  masterful 
gripping  of  the  present  pressing  emergency. 

Ah!  God,  may  Thy  Church — we  men  who 
make  Thy  Church,  who  are  Thy  Church — may 
we  see  the  emergency,  and  be  gripped  by  it;  for 
Jesus'  sake;  aye,  for  men's  sake;  for  the  Church's 
sake;  for  our  own  sake;  in  Jesus*  great  name. 


THE  PAST  FAILURE 


Some  of  God's  Failures. 

Where  the  Reproach  of  Failure  Lies. 

God's  Sovereignty. 

The  Church  Mission. 

"  Christ  also  Waits." 

"Somebody  Forgets." 


The   Past   Failure 


Some  of  God^s  Failures. 

God  fails,  sometimes.  That  is  to  say,  the  plan 
He  has  made  and  set  His  heart  upon  fails. 

Eden  was  God's  plan  for  man.  A  weedless, 
thornless,  world-garden  of  great  beauty  and  fruit- 
fulness;  a  man  and  woman  living  together  in 
sweet  purity  and  strong  self-mastery;  their 
children  growing  up  in  such  an  atmosphere, 
trained  for  the  highest  and  best;  the  earth  with 
all  its  wondrous  forces  developed  and  mastered 
by  man;  full  comradeship  and  partnership  be- 
tween man  and  all  the  living  creation,  beast  and 
bird;  and  in  the  midst  of  all  God  Himself  walk- 
ing and  working  in  closest  touch  with  man  in  all 
his  enterprises — that  was  God's  Eden  plan  for 
man.     But  it  failed. 

The  Israel  plan  was  a  failure,  too.  The  main 
purpose  of  Israel  being  made  God's  peculiar  people 
has  failed  up  to  the  present  hour.  That  plan 
originally  was  a  simple  shepherd  people,  living 
on  the  soil  close  to  nature.  They  were  to  be, 
not  a  democracy  ruled  by  the  direct  vote  of  the 
people  in  all  things;  nor  a  republic  ruled  by  the 
vote  of  selected  representatives;    nor  yet  a  king- 


122  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

dom  ruled  over  by  the  will  of  an  autocrat;  but 
something  quite  distinct  from  all  of  these,  what 
men  have  been  pleased  to  call  a  theocracy. 

That  is  to  say,  God  Himself  was  to  be  their 
ruler  in  a  very  real,  practical  sense,  directing  and 
working  with  them  in  the  working  out  of  all  their 
national  life.  They  were  to  combine  all  the  best  in 
each  of  these  forms  of  government,  with  a  some- 
thing added,  not  in  any  of  them  as  men  know  them. 

They  were  to  be  wholly  unHke  the  other  na- 
tions, utterly  unambitious  politically,  neither  ex- 
citing war  upon  themselves  by  others  nor  ever 
making  war  upon  others.  Their  great  mission 
was  to  be  a  teacher-nation  to  all  the  earth,  teach- 
ing the  great  spiritual  truths;  and,  better  yet,  em- 
bodying these  truths  in  their  personal  and  national 
life. 

But  the  plan  failed.  The  ghtter  of  the  other 
nations  turned  them  aside  from  God's  plan. 
They  set  up  a  kingdom,  ''like  all  the  nations," 
very  much  like  them. 

Then  God  worked  with  them  where  they  would 
work  with  Him.  He  planned  a  great  kingdom 
to  overspread  the  earth  in  its  rule  and  blessed  in- 
fluence, but  not  by  the  aggression  of  war  and  op- 
pression. Their  later  literature  is  all  a-flood 
with  the  glory  light  of  the  coming  king  and  king- 
dom. Yet  when  the  King  came  they  rejected  Him 
and  then  killed  Him.  They  failed  at  the  very 
point  that  was  to  have  been  their  great  achieve- 
ment. God's  plan  failed.  The  Hebrew  people 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  direct  object  of 


The  Past  Failure  123 

their  creation  as  a  nation  have  been  a  failure  up 
to  the  present  hour. 

God's  choice  for  their  first  king,  Saul,  was  a 
failure,  too.  No  man  ever  began  Hfe,  nor  king 
his  rule,  with  better  preparation  and  prospects. 
And  no  career  ever  ended  in  such  dismal  failure. 
God's  plan  for  the  man  had  failed. 

Jesus'  plan  for  Judas  failed.  The  sharpest 
contrasts  of  possible  good  and  actual  bad  came 
together  in  his  career  in  the  most  starthng  way. 
He  failed  at  the  very  point  where  he  should  have 
been  strongest — his  personal  loyalty  to  his  Chief. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Jesus  picked  him 
out  for  one  of  His  inner  circle  because  of  his  strong 
attractive  traits.  He  had  in  him  the  making  of  a 
John,  the  intimate,  the  writer  of  the  great  fourth 
Gospel.  He  might  have  been  a  Peter,  rugged 
in  his  bold  leadership  of  the  early  Church. 

But,  though  coached  and  companioned  with, 
loved  and  wooed,  up  to  the  very  hour  of  the  coward- 
ly contemptible  betrayal,  he  failed  to  respond 
even  to  such  influence  as  a  Jesus  could  exert. 
Jesus  planned  Judas  the  apostle.  He  became 
Judas  the  apostate,  the  traitor.  He  was  to  be  a 
leader  and  teacher  of  the  Gospel.  He  became  a 
miserable  reproach  and  by-word  of  execration 
to  all  men.     Jesus'  plan  failed. 

Where  the  Reproach  of  Failure  Lies. 

Will  you  please  mark  very  keenly  that  the  fail- 
ure always  comes  because  of  man's  unwillingness 
to  work  with  God  ?    It  always  takes  two  for  God's 


I  24  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

plan — ^Himself  and  a  man.  All  His  working  is 
through  human  partnership.  In  all  His  working 
among  men  He  needs  to  work  with  men. 

Some  good  earnest  people  don't  like,  and  won't 
like,  that  blunt  statement  that  God  fails  some- 
times. It  seems  to  them  to  cast  a  reproach  upon 
God.  They  may  likely  think  it  lacking  in  due 
reverence.  But  if  these  kind  friends  will  sink 
the  shaft  of  their  thinking  just  a  Httle  deeper 
down  into  the  mine  of  truth,  they  will  find  that 
the  reproach  is  somewhere  else. 

There  is  reproach.  Every  failure  that  could 
have  been  prevented  by  honest  work  and  earnest 
faithfulness  spells  reproach.  And  there  is  re- 
proach here.  But  it  isn't  upon  God;  it  is  upon 
man.  God's  plan  depends  upon  man.  It  is 
always  man's  failure  to  do  his  simple  part  faith- 
fully that  causes  God's  plan  to  fail. 

There  is  a  false  reverence  that  fears  to  speak 
plainly  of  God.  It  seeks  by  holding  back  some 
things,  and  speaking  of  others  with  very  carefully 
thought-out  phrase,  to  bolster  up  God's  side. 
True  love  has  two  marked  traits:  it  is  always 
plain-spoken  in  telling  all  the  truth  when  it  should 
be  known;  and  it  is  always  reverential.  It  can't 
be  otherwise.  The  bluntest  words  on  the  lips 
combine  with  the  deepest  reverence  of  spirit. 
God  doesn't  need  to  be  defended.  The  plain 
truth  need  never  be  apologized  for. 

It's  a  false  reverence  that  holds  back  some  of 
the  truth,  lest  stating  it  may  seem  to  reflect  on 
God's    character.     Such    false    reverence    is    a 


The  Past  Failure  125 

distinct  hindrance.  It  holds  back  from  us  some 
of  the  truth,  and  the  strong  emphasis  that  the 
truth  needs  to  arouse  our  attention  and  get  into 
our  some-time  thick  heads.  We  men  need  the 
stirring  up  of  plain  truth,  told  in  plainest  speech. 
The  Church  has  suffered  for  lack  of  plain  telling 
of  the  truth.  The  deepest,  tenderest  reverence 
insists  upon  plain  talk,  and  reveals  itself  in  such 
talk. 

It  is  irreverent  to  hold  back  some  of  God's 
truth.  For  so  men  get  wrong  impressions  of  God. 
It  is  unfair  as  well  as  irreverent.  Theology  has 
sometimes  been  greatly  taken  up  with  adjusting  its 
statements  so  as  to  defend  God's  character.  But 
the  plainest,  fullest  telling  of  truth  is  the  greatest 
revealer  of  His  great  wisdom  and  purity  and 
unfailing  love. 

God^s  Sovereignty. 

There  has  been  a  good  bit  of  teaching  about 
"God's  sovereignty."  Behind  that  mysterious, 
indefinite  phrase  has  crept  much  that  badly  needs 
the  clear,  searching  sunlight  of  day.  God's 
sovereignty  is  commonly  thought  of  as  a  sort  of 
dead-weight  force  by  which  He  compels  things  to 
come  His  way.  If  a  man  stand  in  the  way  of 
God's  plan  so  much  the  worse  for  the  man.  It  is 
thought  of  as  a  sort  of  mighty  army,  marching 
down  the  road,  in  close  ranks,  with  fixed  bayonets. 
If  you  happen  to  be  on  that  road  better  look  out 
very  sharply,  or  you  may  get  crushed  under  foot. 

I  do  not  mean  that  the  theologians  put  it  in  that 


126  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

blunt  fashion,  nor  that  I  have  ever  heard  any 
preacher  phrase  it  in  that  way.  I  mean  that  as  I 
have  talked  with  the  plain  common  people,  and 
listened  to  them,  this  is  the  distinct  impression 
that  comes  continually  of  what  it  means  to  them. 
Then,  too,  the  phrase  has  often  been  used,  it  is  to 
be  feared,  as  a  religious  cloak  to  cover  up  the 
shortcomings  and  shirkings  of  those  who  aren't 
fitting  into  God's  plan. 

God  is  a  sovereign.  The  truth  of  His  sover- 
eignty is  one  of  the  most  gracious  of  all  the  truths 
in  this  blessed  old  Book  of  God.  It  means  that 
the  great  gracious  purpose  and  plan  of  God  will 
finally  be  victorious.  It  means  that  in  our  per- 
sonal lives  He,  with  great  patience  and  skill  and 
power,  works  through  the  tangled  network  of 
circumstances  and  difficulties  to  answer  our 
prayers,  and  to  bring  out  the  best  results  for  us. 

It  means  further  that,  with  a  diplomacy  and 
patience  only  divine.  He  works  with  and  through 
the  intricate  meshes  of  men's  wills  and  contrary 
purposes  to  bring  out  good  now — not  good  out 
of  bad,  that  is  impossible;  but  good  in  spite  of  the 
bad — and  that  finally  all  opposition  will  be  over- 
come, or  will  have  spent  itself  out  in  utter  weak- 
ness, and  so  His  purposes  of  love  will  be  fully 
victorious. 

But  the  practical  thing  to  burn  in  deep  just  now 
is  this,  that  we  can  hinder  God's  plan.  His  plans 
have  been  hindered,  and  delayed,  and  made  to 
fail,  because  we  wouldn't  work  with  Him. 

And  God  lets  His  plan  fail.     It  is  a  bit  of  His 


The  Past  Failure  1 27 

greatness.  He  will  let  a  plan  fail  before  He  will 
be  untrue  to  man's  utter  freedom  of  action.  He 
will  let  a  man  wreck  his  career,  that  so  through 
the  wreckage  the  man  may  see  his  own  failure,  and 
gladly  turn  to  God.  Many  a  hill  is  climbed  only 
through  a  swamp  road. 

God  cares  more  for  a  man  than  for  a  plan. 
The  plan  is  only  for  the  sake  of  the  man.  You 
say,  of  course.  But,  you  know,  many  men  think 
more  of  carrying  through  the  plan  on  which  they 
have  set  themselves,  regardless  of  how  it  may 
hurt  or  crush  some  man  in  the  way.  God's  plan 
is  for  man,  and  so  it  is  allowed  to  fail,  for  the 
man's  sake. 

Yet,  because  the  plan  is  always  made  for  man's 
sake,  it  will  be  carried  through,  because  by  and 
by  man  will  see  it  to  be  best.  Many  a  man's 
character  has  been  made  only  through  the  wreck- 
ing of  his  career.  If  God  had  had  His  way  He 
would  have  saved  both  life  and  soul,  both  the 
earthly  career  and  the  heavenly  character. 

Let  us  stop  thoughtfully,  and  remember  that 
God  has  carefully  thought  out  a  plan  for  every 
man,  for  each  one  of  us.  It  is  a  plan  for  the 
life^  these  human  years;  not  simply  for  getting 
us  to  what  we  may  have  thought  of  as  a  psalm- 
singing  heaven,  when  we're  worn  out  down  here. 

It  is  the  best  plan.  For  God  is  ambitious  for  us; 
more  ambitious  for  you  and  me  than  we  are  for 
ourselves,  though  few  of  us  really  believe  that. 
But  He  will  carry  out  His  plan — aye,  He  can  carry 
it  out  only  with  our  hearty  consent.    He  must 


1 28  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

work  through  our  wills.  He  honors  us  in  that. 
With  greatest  reverence  be  it  said  that  God 
waits  reverently,  hat  in  hand,  outside  the  door  of 
a  man's  will,  until  the  man  inside  turns  the  knob 
and  throws  open  the  door  for  Him  to  come  in  and 
carry  out  His  plan.  We  can  make  God  fail  by 
not  working  with  Him.  The  greatest  of  all 
achievements  of  action  is  to  find  and  fit  into  God's 
plan. 

The  Church  Mission, 

Now,  God  had  and  has  a  plan  for  His  Church. 
That  plan  is  simply  this:  The  Church  was  to  be 
His  messenger  to  the  nations  of  the  earth.  There 
are  other  matters  of  vast  importance  committed 
to  the  Church,  without  doubt :  the  service  of  wor- 
ship and  the  training  and  developing  of  the  life 
of  its  members.  But  these,  be  it  said  very  thought- 
fully, are  distinctiy  secondary  to  the  service  of 
taking  the  Gospel  to  all  men. 

These  two,  the  chief  and  the  secondary,  are 
interwoven,  each  contributing  to  and  dependent 
upon  the  other.  But  there  is  always  a  main 
purpose.  And  that  here,  without  question,  is 
the  carrying  of  the  message  of  Jesus  fully  to  all 
the  earth.  In  each  generation  the  chief  plan, 
to  which  all  else  was  meant  to  be  contributory, 
was  that  all  men  should  hear  fully  and  winsomely 
the  great  thrilling  story  of  Jesus. 

Shall  I  say  that  that  plan  has  failed?  It  hurts 
too  much  even  to  repeat  such  words.  I  will  not 
say  the  Church  has  failed.     But  I  wiU  ask  you 


The  Past  Failure  129 

to  note  God^s  plan  for  the  Church,  and  then  in  your 
inner  heart  to  make  your  own  honest  answer. 

And  in  making  it  remember  the  practical  point 
is  this — the  Church  is  you.  I  am  the  Church. 
Its  mission  is  mine.  If  I  say  it  has  failed  I  am 
talking  about  myself.  I  can  keep  it  from  failing 
so  far  as  part  of  it  is  concerned,  the  part  that  I  am. 
My  concern  is  not  to  be  asking  abstractly,  theoreti- 
cally, about  the  Church,  but  about  so  much  of  it 
as  I  am. 

In  annual  church  reports,  and  triennial  and 
quadrennial,  much  space  is  given  to  telling  of  the 
wealth  of  the  Church.  Of  course,  I  suppose  its 
wealth  is  meant  to  be  an  index  of  all  its  work. 
It  may  seem  a  bit  odd  to  use  the  world's  index- 
finger  to  point  out  our  faithfulness  to  our  Master's 
wiU.  It  is  used,  of  course,  to  impress  the  world 
in  the  way  the  world  can  most  quickly  and  easily 
understand. 

But  the  Church  was  not  meant  by  the  Master 
to  be  a  rich  institution  in  money  and  property; 
though  it  has  grown  immensely  so.  The  Master's 
thought  was  that  its  power  and  faithfulness  should 
be  revealed  entirely  in  the  extent  to  which  all 
men  of  all  nations  know  about  Himself  and  have 
been  won  to  Him. 

If  we  think  only  a  little  bit  into  the  past  history 
of  the  Church,  and  then  into  present  world  con- 
ditions, we  know  the  answer  to  that  hurting  ques- 
tion about  the  Church  being  a  failure. 

I  know  that  many  of  you  are  thinking  of  the 
triumphs  of  the  Church;  of  her  imperishable 
9 


130   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

and  incalculable  influence  upon  the  life  of  the 
world.  And  I  will  join  you  heartily  in  that,  some 
other  time.  Just  now  we  are  not  talking  of  that, 
but  of  just  one  particular  fact  of  its  history.  One 
truth  at  a  time  makes  sharper  outlines  and  brings 
the  whole  circle  of  truth  out  more  plainly. 
I  love  to  sing, 

''I  love  Thy  Kingdom,  Lord, 

The  house  of  Thine  abode; 

The  Church  our  blest  Redeemer  saved 

With  His  own  precious  blood." 

We  shudder  to  attempt  to  think  into  what  these 
centuries  would  have  been  without  the  influence  of 
the  Church. 

But  at  present  we  are  talking  about  something 
else.  Let  me  ask  you,  softly,  if  God's  plan  for  the 
Church  was  that  it  was  to  be  His  messenger  to  all 
men,  as  you  think  back  through  nineteen  centuries 
and  then  think  out  into  the  moral  world  condi- 
tions to-day,  would  you  say  the  plan  had  succeed- 
ed?   Or  had— ? 

''Christ  also  Waits y 

There's  a  bit  of  light  here  on  that  vexed  ques- 
tion of  the  Lord's  second  coming,  about  which 
good,  earnest  people  differ  so  radically.  The 
Master  said,  you  remember,  that  we  were  to  be 
watching  for  His  return.  But  many  ask,  how  can 
we  be  watching  when  it's  been  two  thousand 
years  since  He  told  us  to  watch,  and  the  event 
seems  as  far  off  as  ever  ? 

I  remember  one  day  in  a  Bible  class  the  lessoa 


The  Past  Failure  1 3 1 

was  in  the  twelfth  of  Luke,  about  watching  for 
the  Lord's  return.  Some  of  the  class  seemed  to 
think  that  it  means  that  we  should  be  in  a  con- 
stant attitude  of  expectancy,  looking  for  His 
return.  But  one  man,  an  earnest,  godly  old  min- 
ister said, ''  How  can  you  be  looking  expectantly  for 
a  thousand  yearsV 

But  will  you  mark  keenly  that  the  teaching  of 
Jesus  Himself  was  that  His  return  depended  on 
His  followers'  doing  a  certain  thing  ?^  When 
all  men  had  been  told  fully  of  Jesus,  then  He  was 
to  return  and  carry  out  a  further  part  of  His  plan. 
Clearly  if  the  part  we  were  to  play  has  not  been 
done,  it  delays  His  part.  The  telling  of  all  men 
about  Jesus  seems  to  bear  a  very  close  connection 
with  what  will  occur  when  Jesus  returns. 

Some  of  our  good  friends  have  been  much 
taken  up  with  figuring  out  when  the  Lord  would 
come  back.  Some  of  them  seem  to  have  great 
skill  in  making  calendars.  They  even  go  so  far  as 
to  fix  exact  dates.  They  seem  to  forget  that  word 
of  the  Master,  "In  such  an  hour  as  ye  think  not 
the  Son  of  Man  cometh."  If  you  think  He  will 
come  at  a  certain  given  time,  then  you  can  know 
one  thing  certainly,  that  He  won't  come  then. 

The  only  calendar  we  men  have  is  a  calendar  of 
dates ^  fitted  to  the  movements  of  the  sun  and  moon. 
God  has  a  calendar,  too,  but  it  is  a  calendar  of 
events,  not  of  dates.  The  completion  of  His  plans 
doesn't  depend  on  so  many  revolutions  of  the 
earth  about  the  sun,  but  on  the  faithful  revolution 

*  Matthew  24:14. 


132  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

of  His  followers  in  their  movement  around  the 
earth  teUing  men  of  Jesus. 

It  looks  very  much  as  though  the  Master's 
coming  has  been  delayed,  and  His  plans  delayed, 
because  we  have  not  done  the  preparatory  part 
assigned  us. 

''The  restless  millions  wait  the  light, 

Whose  coming  maketh  all  things  new. 

Christ  also  waits;  but  men  are  slow  and  late. 

Have  we  done  what  we  could  ?    Have  I  ?    Have  you  ?  " 

^^  Somebody  Forgets^ 

A  little  fellow,  of  a  very  poor  family,  in  the 
slum  section  of  one  of  our  large  cities,  was  in- 
duced to  attend  a  mission  Sunday-school.  By  and 
by,  as  a  result  of  the  teacher's  faithful  work,  he 
became  a  Christian.  He  seemed  quite  bright  and 
settled  in  his  new  Christian  faith  and  Ufe. 

Some  one,  surely  in  a  thoughtless  mood,  tried 
to  test  or  shake  his  simple  faith  in  God  by  a 
question.  He  was  asked,  "If  God  loves  you, 
why  doesn't  He  take  better  care  of  you?  Why 
doesn't  He  tell  some  one  to  send  you  warm  shoes 
and  some  coal  and  better  food?" 

The  little  fellow  thought  a  moment,  and  then 
with  big  tears  starting  in  his  eyes,  said,  "I  guess 
He  does  tell  somebody,  hut  somebody  forgets.'' 

Without  knowing  it,  the  boy  touched  the  sore 
point  in  the  Church's  history.  I  wonder  if  it  is 
the  sore  point  with  you  or  me. 


THE  COMING  VICTORY 


Failure  Swallowed  by  Victory. 
The  Revised  Missionary  Motto. 
Ahead,  but  Behind. 
In  a  Swift  Current. 
Power  of  Leadership. 
A  Minority  Movement. 
A  Great  World-chorus. 
The  Oratorio  of  Victory. 


The   Coming  Victory 


Failure  Swallowed  by  Victory. 

'  But  God^s  failures  are  only  for  a  while.  They 
are  real.  There  is  the  tragic  element  in  them. 
There  is  the  deep,  sad  tinge  of  disappointment 
running  throughout  this  old  Book  of  God.  Yet 
the  failures  are  only  for  a  time.  Sometimes  it 
seems  a  very  long  time,  especially  if  you  are  living 
through  some  of  it.  But  the  time  reaches  eagerly 
to  an  end.  Victory  comes.  And  God's  victory 
will  be  so  great  as  to  make  us  completely  forget 
the  failures  that  marred  the  road. 

The  Eden  plan  was  more  than  a  plan.  It 
was  a  prophecy  of  the  final  outcome.  The  Book 
of  God  begins  with  failure,  but  it  ends  with  a  glow- 
ing picture  of  great  victory,  painted  with  rose  colors. 
Every  feature  of  beauty  and  of  good  in  Eden  has 
grown  greatly  in  John's  Revelation  climax.  The 
garden  of  Genesis  becomes  a  garden-city.  All 
the  simplicity  and  purity  of  garden  life,  and  all  the 
development  and  power  represented  by  city  life, 
are  brought  together.  There  is  now  a  river  of 
life  J  and  the  tree  of  life  has  grown  into  a  grove. 

And  God  isn't  through  with  that  nation  of  Israel 
yet.  The  Jew  can't  be  lost.  In  every  nation 
135 


1 36  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

under  heaven  he  can  be  found  to-day,  a  walking 
reminder  of  God's  plan.  Every  Jew,  in  what- 
ever ghetto  he  may  be  found,  is  an  unconscious 
prophecy  of  a  coming  fulfilment  of  God's  purpose. 
The  strange  racial  immortality  of  the  Jew  is  a 
puzzle  from  every  standpoint,  except  God's.  He 
can't  be  killed  off;  though  men  have  never  ceased 
trying  to  kill  him  off.  The  Jew  looms  up  bigger 
to-day  than  for  many  generations. 

The  present  strange  restless  Jewish  longing 
for  national  existence  again,  that  will  not  down, 
spells  out  the  coming  victory  of  God's  plan  after 
centuries  of  failure.  And  even  though  the  present 
tide  may  run  out  toward  ebb,  it  will  be  to  gather 
force  for  a  new  and  fuller  flood.  When  God's 
plan  works  out  the  world  will  have  a  wholly  new 
idea  of  national  Hfe,  and  of  a  world-power  without 
army  or  navy  or  any  show  of  force,  touching  all 
men,  and  touching  them  only  to  bless. 

And  though  King  Saul  failed,  there  was  already 
the  ruddy  David,  out  among  the  sheep,  waiting 
the  anointing  oil,  and  carrying  about  in  his  person 
his  nation's  greatest  king. 

Jesus'  Judas  failed  to  reahze  the  promise  of  his 
earHer  days.  He  struck  the  record  note  for 
baseness.  But  Paul  was  being  prepared  by 
blood  inheritance  and  scholarly  training.  Under 
the  touch  of  the  Master's  own  hand  he  became 
the  Church's  greatest  leader  in  its  life-mission. 
If  Judas  struck  the  lowest  note,  Paul  rang  the 
changes  on  the  highest  note  of  personal  loyalty  to 
Jesus  and  to  His  world-wide  passion  and  purpose. 


The  Coming  Victory  137 

And  the  Church  has  waked  up.  I  said,  you 
remember,  last  evening,  that  if  you  look  over  the 
whole  history  of  the  Church  since  its  birthday  on 
Pentecost,  you  are  pained  by  the  sore  fact  that  the 
chief  mission  entrusted  to  it  has  been  for  the  most 
part  forgotten.  There  has  been  more  forgetting 
of  it,  and  neglecting  it,  than  fulfilling  it. 

Yet  always,  be  it  keenly  noted,  in  every  genera- 
tion of  these  centuries  there  have  been  those 
whose  vision  of  Olivet  never  dimmed.  There 
have  always  been  those  who  have  tried  faithfully 
to  carry  out  the  Church's  great  mission.  The 
darkest  days  have  never  been  without  some  of  the 
brightest  light,  made  all  the  brighter  by  the  sur- 
rounding night. 

The  Revised  Missionary  Motto. 


But  there's  a  new  chapter  of  the  Church's  life 
being  written  as  we  talk  together.  Its  writing 
began  in  the  closing  twilight  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  That  chapter  isn't  finished  yet.  Some 
of  its  best  pages  are  now  being  written,  with  more 
and  better  clearly  coming. 

Its  first  lines  were  written  by  a  very  common 
pen.  Carey's  English  cobbler-shop  became  a 
sounding-board  whose  insistent,  ringing  messages 
began  to  waken  the  Church.  The  Church  is 
waking  up,  and  shaking  itself,  and  tightening  on  its 
clothes,  for  the  greatest  work  yet  to  be  done  in 
fulfilling  the  life-mission  entrusted  to  it. 

A  hundred  years  ago  the  fire  of  God  found  fresh 
kindling  stuff  in  the  hearts  and  brains  of  a  few 


1 3  8   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

young  college  fellows  in  an  old  New  England 
village.  The  sore  need  of  the  world  crowded  in 
upon  them  by  night  and  by  day.  But  they  were 
few,  and  young,  and  unknown.  And  the  task 
was  stupendous.  The  rain-storm  of  a  Sabbath 
afternoon  drove  them  to  the  shelter  of  a  hay- 
stack. And  the  storm  of  the  world's  need  drove 
them  to  the  shelter  of  prayer,  and  then  to  the 
shelter  of  a  great  purpose.  With  simple  faith  in 
God,  and  strong  devotion  to  the  great  neglected 
task,  they  spoke  out  to  the  Church  the  thrilling 
words,  "We  can  do  it  if  we  will." 

And  on  that  same  spot  a  hundred  years  later 
the  Church  gathered.  Those  intense  words  had 
been  heard.  The  Church  had  waked  up.  Men 
of  long  service  in  far-away  lands  stood  with  those 
of  the  home  circle.  They  talked  of  the  past,  but 
far  more  of  the  present  and  future.  They  re- 
vised the  century-old  motto.  No  group  of  scholars 
in  the  Jerusalem  Chamber  of  Westminster  Abbey 
ever  did  finer  revision  work.  They  said,  "We 
can  do  it,  and  we  will."  No  greater  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  the  faithful  little  hay-stack  group 
was  ever  made  than  in  that  changed  motto. 

The  young  collegians'  bold  cry  had  sounded  out 
throughout  the  Church.  And  the  Church  heard 
and  roused  up.  The  modern  missionary  move- 
ment of  the  Church  is  the  most  marked  develop- 
ment of  the  past  century  of  church  history.  It  can 
be  said  that  the  Church  of  our  day  in  its  missionary 
activity  far  exceeds  the  early  Church.  That  is 
to  say,  in  certain  particulars  we  have  exceeded. 


The  Coming  Victory  139 

It  is  common  to  refer  to  the  missionary  zeal  of 
the  first  centuries.  Fresh  from  the  Master's 
touch,  the  early  Church  was  chiefly  a  missionary 
church.  One  great  purpose  gripped  it,  and  that 
was  to  take  the  news  of  Jesus  everywhere.  And 
they  went  everywhere.  We  know  most  about 
Paul's  journeys  in  the  Grecian  and  Roman  worlds. 
But  there  is  good  evidence  that  there  is  another 
"Acts  of  Apostles"  beside  the  one  bound  up  in 
this  Bible.  Out  to  the  farthest  reaches  of  the 
earth  they  seemed  to  have  gone  in  those  early  days, 
preaching  and  winning  men  and  establishing 
church  societies. 

The  bulk  of  the  modern  movement  is  without 
doubt  greatly  in  excess  of  the  early  movement. 
The  number  of  men  out  in  various  fields,  the 
amount  of  money  being  given  annually  by  the 
Church  in  America  and  Great  Britain  and  the 
Continental  countries  is  so  much  greater  as  to 
leave  comparison  practically  out. 

In  the  thoroughness  of  organization,  the  ele- 
ments of  permanency,  the  great  variety  of  means 
used  such  as  hospitals,  schools,  literature,  and  in- 
dustrial helps,  the  present  probably  exceeds  by 
far  the  early  movement.  The  statesmanlike  study 
by  church  leaders  of  the  whole  world-field,  the 
steadiness  of  movement  year  after  year,  in  spite 
of  difficulties  and  discouragements,  the  careful 
systematic  effort  to  inform  and  arouse  the  home 
church — these  are  marked  features  of  the  present 
foreign-mission  campaign.  They  are  such  as 
to  awaken  the  deepest  admiration  of  any  thought- 


140   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

ful  onlooker.     In  all  of  this  the  modern  Church 
is  making  a  wholly  new  record. 

Ahead,  But  Behind. 


Yet,  while  all  this  is  true,  it  can  be  said  just 
as  truly  that  the  Church,  as  a  whole,  is  so  far  be- 
hind the  primitive  Church  as,  again,  practically 
to  leave  comparison  out  of  the  question.  They 
were  so  far  ahead  in  the  mass  of  their  movement 
that  we  are  scarcely  in  the  lists  at  all.  Then  the 
whole  Church  was  an  active  missionary  society. 
Every  one  went  and  preached.  The  nearest  ap- 
proach to  it  in  modern  times  probably  is  the  move- 
ment of  the  native  Church  of  Korea.  This  for- 
eign people  seems  to  have  caught  the  early  spirit. 
Our  heathen  brothers  are  taking  their  place  as 
pace-setters  for  the  Church. 

By  contrast  with  that,  the  modern  activity  has 
been  by  a  minority,  really  a  small  minority,  though 
a  steadily  growing  one.  The  leaders  have  strug- 
gled heroically  against  enormous  odds  in  the  back- 
ward pull  of  the  majority. 

Then  they  went  everywhere.  That  is,  they 
went  everywhere  that  they  could,  so  far  as  open 
doors,  or  doors  that  could  be  pried  open,  let  them. 
We  have  gone  actually  farther,  and  to  more  places 
probably,  but  we  haven't  begun  to  go  everywhere 
that  we  could. 

Our  ability  to  go,  and  the  urgent  requests  for 
us  to  come,  would  carry  us  to  thousands  of  places 
not  yet  touched.  If  we  began  to  do  things  as 
the  early  Church  people  did,  it  would  stand  out 


The  Coming  Victory  141 

as  one  of  the  greatest  movements  in  the  history  of 
the  race.  If  a  small  minority  of  us  have  made  such 
enormous  strides  what  could  the  whole  of  us  do  if 
we  would! 

In  a  Swift  Current, 

The  momentum  of  the  present  missionary  move- 
ment has  been  startling.  It  suggests  that  we  are 
on  the  eve  of  an  advance  undreamed  of  by 
the  most  enthusiastic.  The  last  twenty-odd 
years  have  seen  progress  clear  outstripping  that  of 
the  previous  hundred,  though  all  built  upon  the 
foundations  so  well  laid  by  the  earlier  leaders 
of  the  century. 

In  answer  to  the  earnest  persistent  prayer  of  a 
few,  the  Spirit  of  God  found  new  stuff  ready  for 
His  kindling  fires  among  the  colleges.  The  story 
of  the  prayer  of  a  few  that  preceded  the  forming 
of  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement  is  thrilling. 
That  great  movement  was  literally  conceived  and 
brought  forth  in  the  travail  of  prayer.  Its  wide- 
spread influence  upon  the  colleges,  and  then  upon 
the  churches;  its  early  campaigning,  its  remark- 
able leaders,  its  great  conventions,  the  steadiness 
of  its  growing  influence  through  more  than  twenty 
years,  and  the  distinct  mark  it  has  made  upon  the 
whole  mission  propaganda  abroad,  make  up  one 
of  the  most  thrilling  chapters  of  church  history, 
ancient  or  modern.  To-day  its  influence  en- 
circles the  earth.  Its  volunteers  are  found  every- 
where. 

Its  reflex  influence  upon  that  other  movement, 


142  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  has  been 
no  small  part  of  its  work.  The  two  have  been 
interwoven  from  the  beginning,  each  contributing 
immeasurably  to  the  other.  The  practical  power 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  on 
foreign  soil  is  recognized  by  the  Church,  and  by 
foreign  governments,  as  of  a  value  clear  beyond 
calculation  or  statement. 

It  has  come  to  be  one  of  the  great  expressions 
of  the  unifying  spirit  of  the  Church  on  foreign- 
mission  soil.  Our  churches  at  home  may  go  their 
separate  ways,  largely.  But  the  pressure  of  the 
sore  need  of  the  foreign  world  has  been  welding 
the  churches  there  together  remarkably.  The 
Christian  Associations,  both  of  young  men  and 
young  women,  belonging  to  all  the  Church  and 
representing  all,  have  held  a  strategic  position 
in  action,  and  been  of  inestimable  service  to  the 
Church  in  its  missionary  propaganda. 

The  Young  People's  Missionary  Movement, 
whose  long,  warm  fingers  are  reaching  throughout 
the  whole  Church,  and  the  newer  Laymen's 
Missionary  Movement  with  its  aggressive  cam- 
paigning, are  both  remarkable  expressions  of  the 
new  uprising. 

The  women  of  the  Church  were  forehanded  in 
their  earnest  working  and  praying.  They  were 
up  at  dawn  of  day.  Their  influence  is  mighty, 
clear  beyond  any  words  to  express.  And  now  at 
last  the  men  are  waking  up,  and  the  new  life  is 
showing  itself  anew  within  organic  church  Hnes. 
Men's  missionary  conventions,  with  great  atten- 


The  Coming  Victory  143 

dances,  are  swinging  into  line,  and  revealing  the 
awakeness  of  the  Church. 

Power  of  Leadership, 

The  enormous  power  of  personal  influence  and 
of  devoted  leadership  has  been  most  marked. 
In  the  throng  of  strong  men  that  lead  in  all  this 
activity  there  are  two  men  that  by  common  con- 
sent stand  out  big  in  the  group.  Young  men 
they  are,  both  of  them,  not  yet  in  the  full  prime 
of  their  powers.  One  has  a  genius  for  organiza- 
tion probably  never  surpassed,  if  equalled,  by 
military  general,  or  Jesuit  chief,  or  modern  cap- 
tain of  industry.  The  other  has  mental  grasp, 
keenness  of  thought,  and  power  of  persuasive 
speech  not  surpassed  by  any,  if  equalled.  Both 
are  marked  by  a  singularly  deep,  tender  spiritu- 
ality, a  rare  gift  of  leadership,  a  poise  of  judgment, 
and  a  devotion  to  the  Church's  great  mission  as 
true  and  steady  as  the  polar  star. 

Around  these  two  young  men  has  grouped  up 
in  no  small  measure  this  later  missionary  activity. 
And  it  is  probably  quite  within  the  mark  to  say 
that  no  stronger,  abler  men  can  be  found  in  any 
of  the  great  activities  of  life  to-day  in  either  of 
these  two  great  English-speaking  peoples.  It  is 
surely  significant  that  the  modern  missionary 
movement  rallies  around  such  giants. 

It  is  worthy  of  special  note,  too,  that  the  body 
of  men  to  whom  is  entrusted  the  administration 
of  this  vast  network  of  foreign  service,  the  for- 
eign-board members  and  secretaries  of  the  Church, 


144  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

have  developed  such  remarkable  power  and  skill. 
No  body  of  men  has  problems  more  intricate  and 
exacting  and  difficult.  And  no  body  of  men  in  any 
sphere  of  activity  has  shown  greater  diplomacy 
and  astuteness,  hard  sound  sense,  and  untiring 
devotion. 

Some  good  friends  are  sometimes  disposed  to 
be  critical  of  methods  and  management.  They 
think  the  affair  could  be  conducted  better  in  some 
details  which  they  think  important.  Well,  it 
would  be  surprising  if  it  were  not  so.  The  same 
criticisms  are  made  of  every  governmental  and 
great  industrial  enterprise.  Everything  human 
seems  to  make  progress  by  correcting  and  im- 
proving. But  the  thing  for  you  and  me  to  keep 
a  critically  keen  eye  upon  is  this:  that  no  such 
detail  be  allowed  to  affect  by  so  much  as  a  hair's 
weight  the  steadfast  ardor  of  our  support. 

No  strong  man  in  the  thick  of  the  great  driving 
purpose  of  his  life  is  turned  aside  or  stopped  by  the 
biting  or  buzzing  of  a  few  insects.  If  even  they 
can't  be  brushed  aside,  let  them  buzz  and  bite, 
but  don't  let  the  great  passion  of  a  life  be  affected 
by  them.  Indeed,  they  wiU  be  clean  forgot,  even 
while  they  are  remembered,  by  the  man  who  has 
been  caught  and  swept  by  the  fire  of  his  Master's 
passion  for  a  world. 

A  Minority  Movement, 

Yet,  be  it  keenly  marked,  these  great  strides 
have  been  made  by  a  minority,  who  have  followed 
the  strong  leaders.     The  whole  Church  is  not  yet 


The  Coming  Victory  145 

awake.  Many  protest  strenuously  against  be- 
ing waked  up.  The  alarm-clocks  bother  them. 
Sometimes  one  is  inclined  to  think  that  the  foreign 
boards  are  peculiarly  placed  between  a  refriger- 
ator and  a  furnace. 

Missionaries  come  back  home  fresh  from  the 
front  fairly  aflame  with  the  fervor  of  their  en- 
thusiasm. Their  convictions  of  what  could  be 
done,  and  should  be  done,  are  apt  to  be  spoken  out 
with  great  positiveness.  They  seem  to  some  to 
suggest  in  an  uncomfortable  way  ine  thought  of  a 
glowing  furnace.  And  many  in  the  home  churches 
seem  able  to  listen  with  such  indifference  as  to 
suggest  to  these  returned  men  and  women  the 
chilling  air  of  an  ice-box.  In  between  the  two 
sits  the  Church  board  engaging  in  the  difficult 
task  of  trying  to  equalize  the  temperature.  But 
that's  merely  a  detail  in  passing. 

The  great  fact  to  mark  is  that  never  has  the 
missionary  movement  bulked  so  large.  And  never 
have  such  broad  statesmanlike  plans,  such  ag- 
gressiveness of  spirit,  coupled  with  deep  devotion, 
marked  the  Church  in  its  great  life-mission. 

One  morning  at  a  popular  summer  resort  on  the 
Long  Island  Sound  coast  thousands  of  bathers 
were  enjoying  the  surf-bathing.  The  life-saving 
crew  were  stationed  for  duty,  on  the  lookout  for 
any  accident.  A  gentleman  standing  by  one  of 
the  crew  asked  him  how  he  could  tell  if  help  were 
needed.  There  were  thousands  of  bathers,  and 
a  perfect  babel  of  noises.  The  weather-beaten 
man,  bronzed  and  toughened  and  trained  to 
10 


146   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

keenness  in  his  work  by  years  of  service,  said,  "I 
can  always  hear  a  cry  of  distress,  no  matter  how 
great  the  noise  and  confusion.  There  never  yet 
has  been  a  cry  of  need  I  haven't  heard." 

For  a  long  time  the  confusion  of  noises  bothered 
the  Church  ears.  But  now  the  cry  of  distress  from 
over  the  wide  seas  is  being  heard  again  distinctly, 
and  is  being  responded  to  splendidly.  The  very 
earnestness  of  response  and  effort  is  a  forerunner 
of  sure  victory. 

A  Great  World-chorus. 

I  recall  vividly  a  scene  in  Albert  Hall  in  London 
nearly  fifteen  years  ago.  A  remarkable  gathering 
from  aU  parts  of  the  world  had  come  together  to 
celebrate  the  jubilee  of  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association.  About  two  thousand  men  had 
come  from  the  ends  of  the  earth.  It  was  a  world- 
gathering.  There  were  sturdy  Englishmen,  cos- 
mopolitan Americans,  canny  Scots,  quick-witted 
Irishmen,  sweet-voiced,  fervid-spirited  Welshmen, 
and  courtly,  suave  Frenchmen. 

Fair-haired,  blue-eyed  Scandinavians  mingled 
with  olive-skinned,  black-eyed  sons  of  Italy.  The 
steady-going  Hollander  and  the  intense  German 
mingled  their  deep  gutturals  with  the  songs  of 
praise  and  the  discussions.  A  few  turbaned 
heads,  inscrutably  quiet  almond-eyes,  and  others 
of  energetic  step  and  speech  brought  to  mind  the 
Great  Orient,  India  and  China  and  Japan.  Men 
won  up  out  of  the  savagery  of  Africa  sat  with 
Islanders  from  the  Pacific. 


The  Coming  Victory  147 

They  came  from  many  communions  and  re- 
presented many  creeds,  and  spoke  as  many 
tongues  as  the  Jerusalem  crowds  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost.  But  they  were  drawn  together  not 
by  their  attractive  diversity,  but  because  of  their 
oneness.  The  drawing-power  of  Jesus  was  the 
magnet  that  drew  them.  It  was  the  music  of  His 
Name  that  made  all  their  tongues  and  languages 
blend  and  chord  in  sweet  harmony. 

This  night  I  speak  of  they  had  gathered  in  the 
great  oval-shaped  Albert  Hall  opposite  Hyde 
Park.  With  the  Londoners,  probably,  fully  ten 
thousand  persons  were  present.  And  I  think 
I  shall  never  forget  the  vast  volume  of  sound, 
as,  led  by  a  chorus  of  Scandina\dan  students,  they 
all  united  in  singing,  "  All  hail  the  power  of  Jesus' 
Name." 

They  didn't  sing  it  to  our  American  tune  of 
"Coronation,"  but  to  the  old  English  "Miles 
Lane."  That  tune,  you  remember,  repeats  over 
four  times  the  words,  "  Crown  Him,"  in  the  last 
line,  gradually  increasing  in  volume,  and  the 
fourth  time  touched  with  a  bit  of  quieting  awe. 

I  can  close  my  eyes  now,  and  see  that  great 
world-gathering  and  hear  again  the  sweet  rhyth- 
mic thunder  of  their  singing: 

"And  crown  Him, 

Crown  Him, 

Crown  Him, 

Crown  Him,  Lord  of  all." 

No  one  can  tell  to  another  the  thrill  and  thrall 
of  such  a  sight  and  sound.     It  was  all  uncon- 


1 4  8   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

sciously  a  bit  of  prophecy  acted  out,  faint  but  dis- 
tinct, of  the  great  day  of  victory  that  is  coming. 

The  Oratorio  of  Victory. 

Have  you  ever  noticed  the  Oratorio  of  Revela- 
tion? Lovers  of  music  should  study  the  book 
of  the  Revelation  of  Saint  John,  for  its  mighty 
choruses.  It  is  striking  just  now  to  notice  the 
double  key-note  of  that  closing  climactic  book  of 
this  old  Bible.  It  is  this:  Satan  chained,  and 
Christ  crowned.  But  note  for  a  moment  the  ora- 
torio sounding  its  music  through  these  pages. 

It  opens  with  a  solo  in  the  first  chapter.^  John 
begins  writing  with  steady  pen  until  he  seems  to 
get  a  glimpse  of  Jesus.  Then  his  pen  drops  the 
story,  and  he  begins  singing: 

"Unto  Him  that  loveth  us, 

And  loosed  us  from  our  sin  by  His  own  blood; 

And  hath  made  us  a  kingdom. 

Priests  unto  His  God  and  Father; 

To  Him  the  glory  and  the  dominion 

Forever  and  ever." 

In  chapter  four^  comes  a  quartette.  The  four 
living  creatures  round  about  the  throne  take  up  the 
refrain  of  John's  solo.  And,  as  they  sing,  their 
song  is  caught  up  by  a  sextuple  quartette^  twenty- 
four  white-robed,  crowned  men  before  the  throne.^ 

In  chapter  five  the  Angel  Chorus  swings  in.* 
They  are  grouped  round  about  the  quartette,  and 
the   twenty-four   elders.     John  begins   to  count 

'Revelation  1:5,  6.  »4:9-ii.     5:8-10. 

•'4:8.  *5:n-i2. 


The  Coming  Victory  149 

them.  Then  his  figures  give  out.  His  knowl- 
edge of  mathematics  is  too  Hmited.  There  were 
ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and  unnumbered 
thousands  of  thousands.  As  far  as  his  eye 
could  reach,  to  left  and  right,  before  and  behind, 
was  one  vast  sea  of  angel  faces. 

And  John  hstened  enraptured  and  awed,  as 
their  wondrous  volume  of  rhythm  rang  and 
thundered  out.  Sweet  sopranos  and  mellow 
contraltos;  ringing  tenors  and  deep  basses;  first 
one,  then  the  other,  back  and  forth  responding 
to  each  other,  then  all  together;  marvellous  music 
it  must  have  been. 

Then  the  refrain  of  their  song  is  caught  up  by 
the  Creation  Chorus.^  Every  living  creature  in 
heaven  and  on  the  earth  and  under  the  earth,  as 
though  unable  to  resist  the  contagious  sweep, 
catch  up  the  music  and  add  their  own  to  it.  We 
don't  commonly  associate  music  with  the  animal 
creation,  nor  with  nature.  It  has  been  said  that 
all  the  sounds  of  nature  are  keyed  in  the  minor, 
as  though  some  suffering  had  affected  them.  We 
talk  of  the  sighing  of  the  wind,  the  moaning  of 
the  sea-waves,  and  the  mourning  of  the  doves. 
Though  the  singing-birds  must  be  excepted. 
They  seem  to  have  caught  and  kept  some  of  the 
upper  strains. 

But  evidently  something  has  occurred  to  strike 
a  new  key-note.  For  now  they  take  up  the  re- 
frain of  the  joyous  song  of  the  others,  and  increase 
the  mighty  song  by  their  own. 

'5  •13- 


150  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

In  chapter  seven  the  music  has  ceased  or 
softened  down  and  is  taken  up  afresh  by  the 
Martyr  Chorus}  Again  John's  figures  give  out. 
He  declares  that  nobody  could  count  the  multi- 
tudes that  make  up  this  chorus.  It  is  a  polyglot 
chorus.  They  sing  in  many  different  languages, 
but  all  blend  into  full  rhythm.  It's  a  scarred 
chorus,  too.  These  have  been  through  great  trib- 
ulation. Their  scars  tell  the  mute  story  of  the 
fierceness  of  the  fight,  and  the  steadiness  of  their 
faith. 

Through  their  singing  runs  a  distinct  strain  of 
the  minor.  Its  strangely  sweet  cadence,  learned 
in  many  an  hour  of  pain,  runs  as  an  under-chord- 
ing  through  the  song  of  triumph  that  now  fills 
their  hearts  and  mouths.  And  as  they  sing,  the 
angel  chorus  and  the  quartette  drop  to  their  knees, 
and  swell  the  wondrous  refrain. 

In  chapter  fourteen  comes  the  music  of  the 
Chortts  of  Pure  Ones?  They  are  gathered  close 
about  the  person  of  Jesus.  They  sing  to  the  ac- 
companiment of  a  great  company  of  harpers. 
They  sing  with  a  pecuUar  clearness  in  their  tones. 
Theirs  is  a  new  song.  Purity  always  makes  a 
music  of  its  own,  unapproachable  for  sweetness 
and  clearness. 

The  Victors*  Chorus  rings  out  its  song  in 
chapter  fifteen.*  These  have  been  in  the  thickest 
of  the  fighting.  The  smoke  of  the  battle  has 
tanned  their  faces.  They  have  struggled  with 
the  enemy  at  close  range,  hip  and  thigh,  nip  and 
» 7:9-12.  114:1-5-  '15:2-4 


The  Coming  Victory  1 5 1 

tuck,  close  parry  and  hard  thrust.  And  they 
have  come  off  victors.  The  ring  of  triumph 
resounds  in  their  voices,  as  to  the  sound  of  their 
own  harps,  harps  of  God,  they  add  their  tribute 
of  song  to  all  the  others. 

And  at  the  last  comes  the  great  Hallelujah 
Chorus y  in  chapter  nineteen.^  In  response  to 
the  precentor's  call,  they  all  join  their  voices  in 
one  vast  melody.  The  Quartette,  the  Sextuples, 
the  Angels,  the  Creation,  the  Martyrs,  the  Pure- 
Ones,  the  Victors — all  sing  their  song  together. 

John  tries  to  tell  what  it  was  lik^  His  mind 
went  quickly  back  to  earlier  days  in  his  home 
city,  Jerusalem,  when  thousands  of  pilgrims 
crowded  the  temple  areas  and  narrow  streets,  and 
spread  out  over  the  hills.  The  unceasing  sound  of 
their  voices  in  speech  and  in  their  pilgrim  songs 
of  praise  comes  back  to  him.  He  says  it  was 
like  that. 

But  that  isn't  satisfactory.  It  is  so  much  more. 
He  thinks  of  how  the  ocean-waves  keep  pound- 
ing, with  cannon-roar,  on  the  rocky  beach  of  his 
Patmos  prison  isle.  So  he  said  it  was  like  that. 
But  still  more  is  needed  to  give  an  idea  of  the  vast 
volume  of  sound.  And  he  remembers  how  some- 
times the  thunders  crashed  and  boomed  and 
roared  above  him  as  he  lay  in  his  solitude  on  that 
lonely  bit  of  sea-girt  land.  It  was  like  that. 
It  was  like  aU  of  these  together. 

And  what  is  it  they  are  singing?  Well,  there's 
a  variety  in  the  wording  of  their  song,  as  well  as 

1iq:i-8. 


152  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

in  their  voices.  But  through  all  runs  a  refrain 
that  brings  back  to  me  the  great  London  chorus. 
It  is  this — 

"And  crown  Him! 
Crown  Him!! 
Crown  Him!!! 
Yes,  Crown  Him 
Lord  of  all." 

It  is  the  rehearsal  of  the  great  Oratorio  of  Vic- 
tory that  we  are  all  to  join  in  singing. 


THE  CHURCH 


Forces  that  Win. 

The  Divine  Law  of  Leadership. 

God's  Messenger. 

Reaching  out  for  a  World. 

"Keep  Step." 

"Find  My  World,  and  Win  it  Back." 


The   Church 


Forces  That  Win. 

God's  world  is  full  of  winning  forces.  The 
great  ball  of  fire  around  which  our  earth  revolves 
is  the  greatest  winning  force  in  the  life  of  the  earth. 
It  is  constantly  winning  the  earth  to  itself  with  a 
power  unseen  but  tremendous,  beyond  anybody's 
power  to  calculate.  The  swing  of  the  earth  away 
from  the  sun  is  being  continually  overcome. 
By  an  immense  drawing  power  it  steadily  holds 
the  earth  where  it  can  pour  down  its  wealth  of 
warmth  and  light  and  life  into  it. 

It  woos  the  moisture  up  from  river  and  lake 
and  sea,  until  its  gravity  partner  in  the  centre  of 
the  earth  woos  it  back  again  in  refreshing  rain 
and  sheltering  snow.  It  wins  out  of  the  earth's 
warm  heart  bounteous  harvests  of  grains  and 
fruits,  the  wealth  of  forests  which  affects  the 
earth's  life  so  radically,  the  flowers  with  their 
beauty  and  fragrance,  and  the  soft  carpeting  of 
green  to  ease  the  journey  for  our  feet.  All 
the  life  and  beauty  of  the  earth  is  due  to  the 
winning  power  of  the  sun. 

God  Himself  is  the  greatest  winning  force  in 
all  our  world.  Everywhere  men  feel  the  upward 
155 


1 5  6   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

drawing  toward  Him.  They  may  protest  against 
church  organizations  and  creeds,  against  teach- 
ings and  long-settled  practices  and  habits  of 
thought,  as  they  do  so  much,  but  there  is  always 
everywhere  a  longing  in  the  human  heart  for 
God.  It  is  the  answer  to  the  longing  of  His 
heart  for  us. 

And  man  is  a  great  winning  force.  Every- 
where men  are  attracted  to  each  other.  There 
is  a  winning  power  within  each  of  us  that  draws 
certain  others  irresistibly  to  us.  And  there  are 
winning  forces  in  life  that  each  one  of  us  is  power- 
fully affected  by.  The  old  home  of  earlier  days 
has  a  marvellous  power  of  attraction  for  most  men. 
The  old  fireside,  the  famihar  rooms,  the  subtle 
aroma  that  seems  inseparable  from  the  very  bricks 
and  boards — who  has  not  felt  the  tremendous 
drawing  power  of  these  ? 

What  a  strange  power  of  attraction  a  man's 
mother-tongue  has  for  him.  How  the  heart  will 
give  a  quick  leap,  in  a  foreign  land,  when,  amid 
a  confusing  jargon  of  strange  sounds,  all  unex- 
pectedly some  one  speaks  the  dear  old  familiar 
words.  The  person  speaking  may  not  be  specially 
congenial  or  attractive  to  us,  but  that  sound  his 
tongue  gives  draws  us  to  him. 

The  Divine  Law  of  Leadership. 

Now  I  want  to  talk  with  you  a  bit  about  the 
forces  at  hand  for  winning  our  old  world  back  to 
our  Father's  heart  and  home.  God  means  us  to 
use  all  the  attractive  powers  we  have  in  this  great 


The  Church  157 

world-wooing  and  world-winning  task.  The 
world  is  to  be  won  back,  not  driven.  Men  drive 
men,  when  they  can.  But  God  woos  and  wins. 
Man's  coming  back  must  be  by  his  own  glad,  sweet 
consent.     God  won't  have  it  any  other  way. 

There  are  certain  strangely  winsome  forces 
at  our  command  for  winning  man.  They  are 
mighty  in  their  drawing  power.  But  there  are 
counter-currents  that  divert  and  hinder  their 
influence.  We  need  to  be  familiar  with  these 
winning  forces,  and  with  the  counter-currents, 
too. 

There  are  seven  great  forces  at  our  command 
for  this  blessed  service  of  soul-winning  and  world- 
winning.  They  are  not  peculiar  to  foreign- 
mission  service,  for  the  foreign  service  itself  is 
not  essentially  different  from  other  service,  except 
in  the  greatness  of  its  need.  They  are  the  forces 
for  use  in  all  our  winning  work. 

Two  of  these  are  distinctly  human  forces.  The 
first  is  an  organization,  the  Church.  And  then 
that  of  which  the  Church  is  made  up,  men  and 
women ;  I  mean  the  power  of  personality,  devel- 
oped and  consecrated  personality. 

There  are  two  divine  forces  that  work  through 
the  human — Jesus  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  I  have 
put  these  second  in  order,  because  they  work 
through  the  human.  The  leadership  is  in  human 
hands.  The  initiative  of  all  action  is  with  usw 
Of  course,  if  you  go  a  bit  deeper  in,  the  initiative 
is  with  God  who  moves  upon  our  hearts  to  make 
us  act.     But  on  the  distinctly  human  level  the 


158   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

beginning  of  service  rests  in  human  hands,  and 
these  two  mighty,  almighty,  di\ine  forces  work 
through  us. 

The  divine  law  of  leadership  and  of  coopera- 
tion in  leadership  has  not  always  been  clearly  un- 
derstood. And  there  has  been  bad  delay  often 
because  of  the  lack  of  understanding.  Our  Lord 
Jesus  in  the  days  of  His  humanity  surrendered 
Himself  to  the  leadership  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
His  great  mission  to  men.  The  Spirit  worked 
through  Jesus.  After  Jesus'  Ascension  the  order 
was  reversed.  The  Spirit  yielded  Himself  to 
the  control  of  the  glorified  Son  of  God.  Jesus 
worked  through  the  Spirit.  It  was  Jesus  who 
sent  down  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost 
for  the  special  mission  begun  that  day. 

And  now,  with  the  greatest  awe  coming  into 
our  hearts  at  the  thought,  be  it  said  that  these 
two  work  through  our  human  leadership.  The 
leadership  in  service  among  men  is  human  leader- 
ship. The  wondrous  Spirit  of  God  works 
through  our  leadership  to  reveal  Jesus  to  men  in 
all  His  winsomeness  and  power. 

There  can  be  no  power  at  all  in  our  human  ac- 
tion and  leadership  except  as  the  Spirit  leads  and 
controls  us,  and  is  allowed  to.  And,  on  the  other 
side,  we  must  not  forget,  though  it  has  sometimes 
been  forgotten,  that  God's  working  waits  upon 
human  action  and  leadership.  Memory  quickly 
brings  up  the  fact,  so  often  repeated  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Church,  that  when  men  have  failed 
to  respond  to  God's  call  His  work  has  fallen  be- 


The  Church  159 

hind.  Whenever  a  new  chapter  of  earnest  ser- 
vice has  been  begun  it  has  always  been  through  a 
new  leadership.  Some  man  has  listened  to  God, 
and  let  Him  have  the  free  use  of  himself  in  reach- 
ing out  to  other  men. 

God  needs  men.  He  needs  you  and  me. 
We  are  the  wire  for  the  transmission  of  His  cur- 
rent of  power.  The  wire  is  useless  without  the 
current.  And  the  current  must  have  the  wire 
along  which  to  travel  to  its  place  of  service.  The 
divine  power  is  through  human  action  and  human 
leadership.  The  power  is  all  divine.  And  the 
means  through  which  it  works  is  all  human. 
Jesus  and  the  Holy  Spirit  work  through  the  Church 
and  through  each  one  of  us  who  is  willing. 

Then  there  are  three  spirit  forces,  or  influences, 
of  mighty  power  in  human  hands;  namely,  prayer, 
and  money,  and  sacrifice. 

God's  Messenger. 

To-night  we  want  to  talk  about  the  first  of  the 
two  human  forces — the  Church. 

We  ought  to  remind  ourselves  of  just  what  that 
word  '*  Church  "  means  in  this  connection.  It  has 
many  meanings.  There  are  at  least  two  that 
we  should  note  here  in  thinking  of  it  as  a  great 
winning  force.  In  its  broadest  meaning,  the 
word  is  commonly  used  for  the  whole  group 
of  church  organizations  taken  together,  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  and  the  Greek  Orthodox,  the 
Protestant,  and  the  few  primitive  societies  that 
stiU  retain  their  old  original  organization.    In  the 


i6o   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

deeper,  less  used  meaning,  it  stands  for  the  body 
of  those  men  and  women  everywhere  who  are 
trusting  Jesus  Christ,  and  are  alHed  with  Him 
in  the  purpose  of  their  hearts. 

These  two  meanings,  of  course,  should  be  the 
same.  All  who  trust  Jesus  should  be  in  the 
church  organizations.  And  all  who  are  in  the 
organizations  should  be  there  because  of  their 
relation  to  Jesus.  Whatever  the  facts  regarding 
that  may  be,  the  mission  of  each  is  the  same. 
And  it  is  with  that  mission  that  we  are  concerned 
just  now. 

Jesus  planned  that  His  Church  should  be  a 
great  man-winning  and  world-winning  organiza- 
tion. The  mission  of  the  Church  is  to  take 
Jesus  to  all  men.  It  is  God's  messenger  of  His 
truth  to  all.  In  that  it  is  the  direct  lineal  descen- 
dant and  heir  of  the  Hebrew  nation. 

That  nation  was  chosen  to  be  a  messenger  or 
missionary  nation.  That  was  the  one  purpose  of 
its  special  creation  as  a  nation.  It  was  not  to  be 
as  the  other  nations,  in  the  characteristics  that 
commonly  mark  strong  nations.  It  was  to  be  a 
teacher-nsition,  receiving  its  message  of  truth  di- 
rect from  God,  embodying  that  message  in  its  own 
life,  personally  and  nationally,  and  giving  it  out 
clearly  and  fully  and  winsomely  to  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  And,  in  spite  of  its  failures  and 
breaks,  that  mission  was  accompHshed  to  a  re- 
markable extent. 

The  Church  is  its  heir.  It  was  born  in  the 
Jewish  nation.     It  became  the  heir  to  its  world- 


The  Church  i6i 

wide  messenger  mission.  The  great  commission 
given  by  Jesus  as  He  was  leaving  is  the  Church's 
commission  for  its  great  life-work.  It  was  spoken 
to  the  group  of  Jewish  men  who  were  the  nucleus 
of  that  body  called  the  Church,  that  came  into 
being  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  That  ringing, 
"  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  my  gospel 
to  the  whole  creation,"  is  the  Master's  command 
to  the  Church  which  He  brought  into  being. 
That  is  the  Church's  marching  order  by  which 
its  life  is  to  be  controlled  and  its  faithfulness 
judged. 

The  scene  of  the  Church's  birth  gives  a  vivid 
picture  of  its  world-mission.  It  was  born  in  a 
world-gathering.  It  was  a  world-church  in  its 
make-up  at  its  birth.  Men  from  all  parts  of  the 
world  became  united  in  one  body  by  the  Spirit's 
touch  that  great  Church  birthday.  Its  birth- 
gift,  the  power  of  speaking  many  tongues,  reveals 
at  once  the  wide  sweep  of  its  service. 

It  was  the  Master's  plan  that  His  Church  should 
speak  all  the  languages  of  the  earth  then  and  now 
and  always,  as  well  as  the  language  of  heaven, 
the  language  of  love.  So  every  man  would  learn 
of  Jesus  in  his  native  speech.  The  language  of 
the  cradle  and  of  love-making  and  of  the  fireside, 
the  language  that  most  quickly  kindles  the  fires  in 
a  man's  heart,  that  was  the  language  to  be  used  in 
carrying  Jesus  to  every  man.  That  was  Jesus' 
plan.  The  Church  was  rarely  equipped  with 
winning  power  for  a  world-service  on  its  birthday 
in  the  gift  of  tongues. 
II 


1 62  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

Of  course,  this  is  not  the  only  mission  of  the 
Church.  That  is  to  say,  there  are  other  purposes 
necessarily  included  in  this.  Taking  the  Gospel 
of  Jesus  to  all  men  means  more  than  merely  taking 
it  and  telling  it.  The  teaching  and  training  and 
developing  of  those  won  to  Jesus  is  an  inseparable 
part  of  the  Church  mission.  The  great  service  of 
worship  has  always  been  recognized  as  a  vital 
part  of  the  Church  life.  Sometimes  indeed  these 
have  been  thought  of,  and  still  are  thought  of,  as 
its  only  mission.  But  they  grow  distinctly  out 
of  the  chief  mission  and  are  distinctly  contribu- 
tory and  secondary  to  it.  Indeed,  they  come  into 
being  only  through  the  faithful  doing  of  the  chief 
task.  Men  were  won.  Then  they  met  for 
worship  and  for  training. 

Reaching  Ouf  For  a  World. 

The  Church  of  those  first  years  thoroughly 
understood  what  its  great  mission  was  to  be. 
The  first  chapters  of  the  Book  of  Acts  vividly 
describe  the  ideal  Church  as  planned  by  the 
Master,  and  as  understood  by  those  who  felt  His 
own  personal  touch  upon  themselves.  Every- 
body went.  They  went  to  everybody.  They 
went  everywhere.  There  is  pretty  clear  evidence 
that  they  actually  went  everywhere  that  men 
could  go.  They  held  their  lives,  and  even  their 
property,  subject  to  the  one  great  gripping 
purpose. 

The  greatest  leader  of  the  first  century  of  the 
Church,  Paul,  who  contributed  most  to  its  liter- 


The  Church  163 

ature  and  exerted  the  greatest  influence  upon  its 
life,  was  above  all  else  a  missionary  leader.  He 
went  practically  everywhere.  He  didn't  go  hastily, 
but  by  carefully  thought-out  plans.  He  won  men 
to  Christ,  organized  them  into  church  societies, 
taught  them,  and  sent  them  out  to  win  others. 

He  worked  in  and  out  of  the  world's  great  city 
centres  of  his  time.  Ephesus,  the  Asiatic  centre, 
Corinth,  the  centre  of  Greek  influence,  and,  Rome, 
the  centre  of  the  world's  governing  power,  were 
the  scenes  of  his  longest  and  most  thorough  cam- 
paigns. His  choice  of  the  centres  was  a  master's 
strategic  choice.  For  these  centres  sent  their  in- 
fluence out  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Paul's 
body  might  be  in  Ephesus  or  Corinth  or  Rome, 
but  his  thought  and  heart  were  on  the  world  these 
cities  reached  by  constant  streams  of  influence. 

And  to  these  churches  which  he  had  won  out 
of  the  raw  stuff  of  heathenism  he  taught  the 
same  world-wide  message.  They  became  filled 
with  this  same  world-wide  spirit.  The  Thessalo- 
nian  and  Corinth  Churches  made  their  winning 
power  felt  throughout  Greece  and  wherever  Greek 
culture  had  gone,  that  is  to  say,  everywhere.* 
The  Church  in  Rome  sent  out  the  message  of 
Jesus  from  its  golden  centre  of  aU  Roman  roads, 
out  to  the  farthest  reaches  of  those  far-reaching 
roads.^ 

It  is  striking,  though  not  surprising,  that  the 
days  of  the  Church's  missionary  activity  have  been 
the  days  of  its  greatest  purity  and  vigor.    When 

* Thessalonians  i:8.  II  Corinthians  i:il.  c.     ^ Romans  i:8. 


1 64  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners^ 

the  vision  of  the  Master's  face  on  Olivet,  and  the 
ringing  sound  of  His  "Go  ye''  have  been  lost, 
the  Church  has  written  pages  that  would  gladly  be 
blotted  out. 

The  Church  has  been  a  winning  force  beyond 
any  power  of  calculation  or  words  of  description. 
AU  that  has  been  done  has  been  done  through  its 
activity  and  leadership.  It  is  to-day  a  tremen- 
dous winning  force,  reaching  its  warm  hands  out  to 
the  very  ends  of  the  earth,  and  drawing  men  to 
Jesus.  With  our  earnest  prayer  it  will  exert  a 
yet  mightier  influence  in  taking  Jesus  to  all  men 
and  in  winning  men  everywhere  to  Jesus. 

''Keep  Step.'' 

The  Church  is  organized  Christendom.  It 
stands  for  the  power  of  organization  in  God's 
service.  All  the  vast  power  of  the  men  and 
women  whose  hearts  have  been  renewed  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  can  be  brought  to  bear  at  a  given 
point  with  tremendous  force  through  the  Church. 
That  was  and  is  the  Master's  plan. 

Organization  is  rhythmic  action,  a  crowd  of 
men  working  by  agreement  as  one  man.  Never 
was  the  world  so  impressed  with  the  almost 
magical  power  of  organization  as  to-day.  Never 
has  organization  been  brought  up  to  so  high  a  pitch 
of  efficiency.  The  unparalleled  progress  of  the 
world  in  our  day  is  due  to  the  marvellous  skill 
that  has  been  developed  in  organized  action. 

Now,  this  almost  omnipotent  power  of  organiza- 
tion was  meant  to  be  used  in  winning  the  world 


The  Church  165 

back  home.  That  is  the  meaning  of  the  birth 
of  the  Church  on  that  great  Pentecost  day.  It 
is  remarkable  that  the  most  perfectly  matured 
bit  of  organization,  in  this  day  of  matured  and 
perfected  organizations,  is  a  church.  For  by 
common  consent  of  thoughtful  students  the  most 
finely  adjusted  and  thoroughly  matured  bit  of 
human  machinery  is  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

If  such  a  masterpiece  of  organization  were 
controlled  by  the  Spirit  that  controls  in  these 
early  chapters  of  Acts,  what  tremendous  and 
thorough  and  rapid  work  would  be  done  in  world- 
winning!  And  that  is  the  goal  toward  which  we 
should  be  driving.  The  evangelization  of  the 
whole  world  is  an  easy  task  for  the  whole  Church. 
It  would  be  a  stupendous,  if  not  an  impossible 
task  for  the  few.  It  has  been  a  gigantic  task  for 
the  leaders,  who  by  dint  of  great  planning  and 
persuasion  and  earnest  pleading  have  done  as 
much  as  has  been  done.  But  if  the  whole  Church 
or  half  of  it  were  to  go  at  it  as  earnestly  as  men 
go  at  other  things,  it  would  be  an  easy  task. 

I  remember  one  October  morning  walking 
across  an  old  smoke-begrimed  bridge  that  spans 
the  Ohio  at  Cincinnati.  My  eye  was  caught  by  a 
dingy  sign  in  large  plain  letters  nailed  up  in  a 
prominent  place.  It  simply  said,  "Processions 
in  crossing  this  bridge  must  break  step."  That 
was  all.  But  it  was  imperative.  It  was  a  law. 
The  processions  must  break  step.  The  same 
men  might  cross  the  bridge,  in  as  large  numbers, 
at  the  same  time,  but  they  must  not  keep  step. 


1 6  6  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

The  authorities  knew  perfectly  well  that  for  a 
body  of  men  to  march  in  step,  every  left  foot  set 
down  at  once,  the  impact  of  every  right  foot 
striking  at  the  same  moment,  would  so — ^I  do  not 
say,  add  to  the  force  exerted — would  so  multiply 
the  force  exerted  upon  the  bridge  as  to  endanger 
its  safety.  The  power  of  concerted  action  is 
immense  beyond  any  power  of  conception.  Every 
bit  of  power  at  command  can  so  be  brought  to 
bear  at  one  point  with  a  force  beyond  any  words 
to  express. 

Our  Master  reverses  for  us  the  old  bridge  sign. 
Out  from  Pentecost  rings  this  word:  "Let  my 
followers  all  form  in  line,  close  ranks,  and  move 
out  to  a  world  conquest,  and — keep  step" 
That  command  of  His  will  make  a  winning  force 
so  great  as  to  shorten  up  the  world's  present 
calendars,  and  shorten  up  the  world's  pain,  and 
lengthen  out  the  new  life  that  will  come  to  untold 
numbers  through  Jesus. 

"Find  My  World  and  Win  it  Back.'* 

Nearly  forty  years  ago  David  Livingstone,  one 
of  the  Church's  great  world- winning  pioneers, 
was  lost  in  the  depths  of  equatorial  Africa.  That 
is  to  say,  he  had  advanced  so  far  ahead  of  every- 
body else  that  the  rest  of  us  lost  track  of  him,  and 
so  we  called  him  lost.  Perhaps  we  got  the  use  of 
the  word  twisted,  and  we  were  the  lost  ones 
because  we  hadn't  kept  up.  He  had  gone  where 
the  Church  was  told  to  go,  but  the  rest  of  us  had 
lingered   behind,   and   so   the   main  column  be- 


The  Church  167 

came  detached  from  its  leader.  Everybody  was 
talking  about  the  lost  leader. 

James  Gordon  Bennett,  the  owner  of  the  New 
York  Herald^  sent  a  telegram  to  one  of  its  corre- 
spondents, Henry  M.  Stanley.  Bennett  was  in 
Paris,  and  Stanley  at  Gibraltar.  The  telegram 
summoned  Stanley  to  come  to  Paris  at  once. 
Stanley  went,  reached  Paris  at  midnight,  knocked 
at  the  great  newspaper-man's  door,  and  asked 
what  was  wanted.  "Find  Livingstone,"  was  the 
short,  blunt  reply.  "How  much  money  do  you 
place  at  my  disposal?"  asked  Stanley.  "Fifty 
thousand  dollars,  or  a  larger  sum.  Never  mind 
about  the  money;   find  Livingstone." 

Stanley  went.  It  took  two  years'  time  to  get 
ready.  It  required  a  specially  planned  campaign 
and  thorough  preparation.  The  planning  was 
done,  and  the  world  was  thrilled  when  the  bold 
missionary  leader  was  found. 

Our  Master  has  sent  a  message  to  His  Church. 
It  is  written  down  in  a  Book,  and  is  being  re- 
peated by  wireless  messages  constantly.  He  says, 
"Find  my  world,  and  bring  it  back;  never  mind 
about  the  expense  of  money  and  lives.  Find  my 
world  and  win  it  hack^  And  the  Church  has  the 
winning  power  to  do  it. 


EACH  ONE  OF  US 


Our  Drawing  Power. 
Sowing  Ourselves  in  Life's  Soil. 
Our  Need  of  a  World  to  Win. 
Living  Broad  Lives  in  Narrow  Alleys. 
Giving  God  Free  Use  of  Ourselves. 
Growing  Bigger  for  Service's  Sake. 
My  Mission-field. 
Our  Spirit-touch. 


Each   One  of  Us 


Our  Drawing  Power. 

The  greatest  human  winning  force  is  a  man 
swayed  in  every  bit  of  his  being  by  the  Spirit  of 
Jesus.  Man  himself  is  the  most  attractive  thing  on 
God's  earth.    He  has  the  greatest  drawing  power. 

He  is  attractive  to  God,  He  drew  out  of  the 
creative  power  of  God  this  world  of  beauty  and 
splendor.  He  drew  Jesus  down  from  the  throne 
of  God  to  the  earth,  to  poverty  and  hard  labor, 
to  the  limitations  of  human  Kfe,  to  misunder- 
standings and  suffering  and  pain  and  death. 
These  were  gladly  yielded  to  because  it  was  all 
for  man.  How  the  crowds  used  to  draw  Jesus! 
He  would  give  His  strength  out  to  them  without 
stint,  until  those  closest  to  Him,  not  understand- 
ing, sought  to  interfere  for  the  sake  of  his  strength. 

One  man  was  a  sufficient  magnet  to  draw  him 
away  from  His  rest,  and  to  draw  out  of  Him  the 
best  of  love  and  strength  He  had.  Nicodemus* 
earnest  presence  wooed  out  of  His  busy  life  a 
whole  evening,  and  drew  out  the  matchless  words 
that  the  world  has  been  feeding  upon  ever  since. 
The  woman  of  little  half-breed  Sychar,  though  an 
outcast,  drew  from  Him  the  touch  of  power  that 
transformed  her  life  2ind  her  village. 
171 


1 72   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

Man  is  attractive  to  his  fellows.  There  is  no 
power  so  attractive  to  a  man  as  another  man. 
The  phenomenal  growth  of  modern  cities  is  one 
of  the  evidences  of  this.  Everywhere  men  ac- 
knowledge the  attractiveness  that  their  fellows 
have  for  them.  Every  friendship,  every  leader- 
ship, every  family  circle,  and  gathering  of  men 
for  whatever  purpose  tells  of  the  winning  power 
that  man  has  for  his  fellows.  It  is  modified  by 
all  sorts  of  surrounding  conditions,  and  exists  in 
many  different  degrees.  The  great  leader  and 
the  great  orator  have  it  in  unusual  measure. 
Every  man  has  some  of  it.  Each  man  is  a  mag- 
netic north  pole.  Every  man  of  his  spirit-current 
is  drawn  toward  him  with  a  steady  pull. 

Man  can  win  man.  That  fact  at  once  brings 
out  strikingly  his  winning  power.  For  the  hardest 
thing  in  all  this  world  to  win  is  a  man.  Of  all 
luggage  man  is  the  hardest  to  move.  He  won't 
move  unless  he  will  move.  Only  as  the  string  is 
tied  inside  to  his  will  can  he  be  persuaded  to 
move.  The  heart  may  help  open  the  door  into 
the  will.  Most  often  that  is  the  way  to  get  in. 
Sometimes  intelligence,  the  reasoning  powers,  open 
the  way  in,  but  rarely;  often  these  two,  the  heart 
and  the  reason,  combined.  But  even  then  they 
go  tandem,  with  the  heart  in  the  lead ;  only  man 
can  get  that  door  open,  and  tie  the  tether  to  the 
other  man's  will,  and  draw  him  out,  whither  he 
will.  He  can  do  it.  And  only  he  can.  Man 
yields  to  the  drawing  power  of  his  fellow. 


Each  One  of  Us  173 

With  the  deepest  reverence  be  it  said  that  when 
God  would  redeem  a  world  He  sent  a  Man. 
Aye,  He  came  as  a  man.  And,  while  Jesus  was  so 
much  more  than  man,  we  must  always  insistently 
remind  ourselves  that  He  was  truly  and  fully  a 
man.  He  was  as  really  human  in  every  bit  of 
His  make-up  and  life  as  though  only  human. 
Because  of  man's  power  to  win  his  fellow,  Jesus 
came  to  the  man-level,  as  a  Man,  that  so  He  might 
win  men. 

Sowing  Ourselves  in  Lifers  Soil. 

Man  is  winsome,  wherever  found,  just  as  he  is. 
He  may  be  shackled  and  sKmed  over  with  sin, 
as  he  plainly  is.  He  may  have  lost  much  of  his 
winsomeness,  as  probably  he  has,  through  deeply 
rooted  prejudice  and  superstitions,  and  endless 
limitations  of  surroundings  and  education,  but 
he  still  remains  a  powerful  magnet  to  his  fellow. 

But  he  is  most  winning  in  his  winningness  as  he 
returns  to  the  original  as  God  planned  him.  His 
native  winning  power  comes  out  fully  only  as  sin 
is  taken  out  of  him,  washed  out,  and  burned  out; 
the  desire  for  it  removed,  and  the  hurt  of  sin  upon 
his  bodily  and  mental  powers  overcome.  Jesus 
is  the  sort  of  human  that  God  planned.  And  only 
as  He  is  allowed  to  come  into  a  man's  life,  and  treat 
the  sin  trouble  at  the  core,  and  rule  from  within, 
can  man  come  to  his  own  in  his  rare  winsomeness. 

Only  won  men  can  win  men,  of  course.  Only 
the  man  who  has  felt  the  power  of  Jesus  can  tell 
some  one  else  of  that  marvellous  power.     No- 


1 74  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

body  else  wants  to.  Nobody  else  can.  For 
nobody  else  knows  that  power.  But  that  man 
must.  There  is  something  inside  that  com- 
pels him  to.  The  man  who  realizes  most  keenly 
that  he  has  been  saved  will  be  the  most  intent 
on  getting  others  saved,  too.  The  passion  for 
Jesus  becomes  a  passion  for  telling  others  about 
Jesus. 

Jerry  McCauley  must  spend  out  his  life  in  Water 
Street  because  he  had  been  gripped  by  the  Man 
who  spent  out  His  life  for  him.  The  passion  is 
irresistible.  Splendid  young  Hugh  Beaver  must 
win  the  Pennsylvania  students  to  Jesus  because 
Jesus  had  become  the  magnet  of  his  own  Hfe. 
Livingstone  must  plunge  into  the  depths  of  the 
African  wilds,  and  Duff  into  India's  heat,  and 
Hudson  Taylor  into  China's  inner  provinces  be- 
cause of  the  Jesus-passion  that  gripped  them. 

Now  the  thing  to  mark  very  keenly  is  this: 
that  God's  chief  reliance  in  His  passionate  out- 
reach for  His  world  is  men.  He  is  counting  on 
you  and  me.  The  power  that  actually  wins  men 
is  the  power  of  God.  Only  He  can  so  play  upon 
human  wills  and  hearts  as  to  induce  them  gladly 
to  open  to  Him.  That  is  true.  But  it  is  as  true 
that  only  through  the  winsome  power  of  men 
can  He  use  His  winning  power  fully. 

I  am  not  going  to  take  up  just  now  why  this 
is  so,  though  that  is  full  of  helpful  suggestion. 
But  simply  to  have  you  mark  that  straight  through 
this  old  Book,  and  through  church  history,  and  in 
actual  experience  this  has  been  His  way  of  reach- 


Each  One  of  Us  175 

ing  men.  God's  pathway  to  one  human  heart  is 
through  another  human  heart. 

When  men  have  failed  Him  God's  plan  has 
failed.  His  sovereignty  doesn't  mean  that  His 
plan  doesn't  fail.  It  means  here  that  with  end- 
less patience  He  clings  to  the  failed  plan  until  He 
can  get  the  man  through  whom  it  can  be  carried 
out.  But  meanwhile  there  has  been  serious 
delay  and  sad  suffering  for  man. 

There  is  a  most  striking  sentence  spoken  by 
Jesus  in  explaining  the  parable  of  the  tares,  in 
Matthew,  Chapter  thirteen.  He  said,  "The  good 
seed  are  the  sons  of  the  kingdom."  We  think  of 
the  truth,  the  Gospel  message,  as  the  good  seed 
that  we  are  to  sow,  and  so  it  is.  But  there's  a  far 
better  seed.  It  is  men,  saved  men.  We  are  to 
sow  our  saved  selves,  our  lives,  in  the  soil  of  men's 
lives.  Our  presence  among  men  was  meant  to  be 
God's  greatest  sowing  of  the  seed  of  life.  Upon 
that  seed  He  sends  the  dew  and  rain  and  sunlight 
of  His  Spirit.  And  through  that  sort  of  sowing 
He  wins  His  greatest  harvests. 

Our  Need  of  a  World  to  Win. 

Now  I  want  to  turn  aside  here  a  bit,  and  say 
this:  we  men  need  a  world  to  win.  The  world 
needs  winning.  There's  no  doubt  of  that.  And  just 
as  really  we  men  need  a  world  to  win.  We  need 
the  impetus  and  stimulus,  the  grip  and  the  swing 
of  having  a  world  to  win.  The  Master's  command 
fits  with  great  exactness  into  the  need  of  our  lives. 

Every  man  needs  a  great  purpose  to  grip  his 


176   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

life.  So  he  is  anchored  and  held  steady  against 
the  world's  tidal  movements.  If  he  isn't  tied 
to  some  great  gripping  purpose  the  wash  of  the  sea 
will  send  him  adrift,  or  the  fierce  undertow 
will  suck  him  under.  And  many  are  adrift.  And 
many  are  in  the  deadly  suction  of  the  undertow. 

Jesus'  command  provides  the  great  purpose 
that  every  man  needs  to  hold  him  steady  and  to 
bring  out,  and  bring  out  best,  all  the  splendid 
powers  with  which  we  are  endowed.  When  we 
are  not  gripped  by  the  great  purpose  planned 
for  us  we  swing  off  into  smaller,  meaner  purposes. 

I  mean,  of  course,  those  of  us  who  are  awake. 
Many  people  are  habitual  somnambulists.  All 
their  walking  and  moving  about  is  done  in  a  state 
of  sleep.  Some  men  never  wake  up.  They  go 
through  the  motions  of  life  so  far  as  they  must. 
The  mechanism  of  habit  keeps  certain  motions 
going,  but  the  real  man  within  is  asleep  or  dozing, 
with  occasional  spells  of  being  sleepily  awake. 

But  men  who  are  awake,  and  doing  something, 
find  a  vent  for  their  energy  on  some  lower  level. 
The  God-given  energy  will  move  out  and  stir 
itself  to  action.  But,  having  somehow  missed 
the  real  purpose  planned  for  them,  they  allow  the 
lower  purposes  to  grip  them.  They  organize 
great  affairs,  or  less  great,  industrial,  intellectual, 
political,  fraternal,  social,  and  spend  their  energy 
on  these.  It  is  the  response  they  make  to  the  call 
of  their  natures  for  some  great  gripping  purpose. 
But  it  looks  very  much  like  another  case  of  meet- 
ing a  request  for  bread  with  cold  hard  stones. 


Each  One  of  Us  177 

These  things  in  themselves  are  right,  of  course; 
so  far  as  they  are  right.  They  belong  in  the 
scheme  of  life.  They  should  be  given  full  place 
in  one's  life.  But  that  place  is  always  a  distinctly 
secondary  place.    They  belong  in  as  number  two. 

A  Christian  business  man  gives  most  of  the  day 
and  year  to  his  business,  and  gives  of  the  best  of 
his  thought  and  strength  to  it.  But  if  he  have 
gotten  his  bearings  straight,  his  business  is  not  in 
first  place.  It  is  made  to  serve  something  higher. 
It  earns  the  gold  with  which  to  finance  the  great 
purpose  of  Jesus'  life,  and  of  his  own  life,  namely, 
the  purpose  of  winning  men,  and  of  winning  a 
whole  world  of  them.  How  it  would  sweeten 
business  and  fraternal  and  social  contacts  and 
friendships,  if  the  salt  of  this  great  purpose  sea- 
soned them! 

Living  Broad  Lives  in  Narrow  Alleys. 

We  need  the  bigness  of  this  great  purpose.  So 
many  lives  are  dwarfed  by  their  very  littlenesses. 
We  are  bothered  vdth  being  short-sighted.  The 
eyeglasses  of  the  Master's  purpose  for  us  would 
wondrously  widen  out  our  scope  of  vision.  And 
through  the  new  eyes  would  come  broader, 
farther,  clearer  views,  and  changed  action.  The 
littleness  of  our  ideas  would  be  amusing  if  it 
were  not  so  distressing. 

I  recall  one  day  riding  on  a  Fort- Wayne  train 

through  Indiana*    I  chanced  to  overhear  a  bit  of 

conversation.     Two  men,  chance  acquaintances, 

were  talking.     One  of  them  had  his  home  in  Elk- 

12 


1 7  8   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

hart.  The  other  asked  him  where  Elkhart  is. 
By  the  side  of  the  Elkhart  man  there  sat  a  little 
sweet-faced  boy.  Instantly,  as  the  question  was 
asked,  he  looked  up  with  surprised  eyes,  and  said, 
"  Don't  you  know  where  Elkhart  is  ?  Why,  Elk- 
hart is  down  where  I  live." 

The  amusing  childish  words  seemed  to  have  a 
familiar  sound.  I  seem  to  have  run  across  a  few 
people  whose  idea  of  God's  world  is  about  on 
the  level  of  the  small  boy's.  The  world  is  where 
they  live.  The  rest  is  a  hazy,  vague  something, 
or — ^nothing.  It  exists  for  them,  if  it  exists  at  all 
in  their  thoughts. 

"Living  for  self,  for  self  alone,  for  self  and  none 
beside; 
Just  as  if  Jesus  had  never  lived,  as  if  Jesus  had 
never  died." 

It  would  be  pitiable  and  pathetic  enough  if 
only  these  people  themselves  were  concerned  in 
their  poor,  stunted,  narrow-alley  living.  But  it  is 
more  than  that;  it  is  tragic,  because  of  the  multitude 
of  brothers,  here  and  abroad,  sorely  needing  the 
help  that  was  meant  to  go  out  to  them  through  us. 

Then  most  men  live  narrow  lives  so  far  as  the 
daily  round  is  concerned.  The  home,  or  shop, 
or  store,  or  office  is  their  daily  horizon,  with  prac- 
tically the  same  round  of  duties  day  after  day, 
year  in  and  year  out.  The  very  narrowness 
of  the  round  tends  to  make  narrow  people. 
They  get  into  as  much  of  a  rut  in  their  thinking 
as  their  daily  action  is  apt  to  become.  Their 
work  runs  in  fixed  grooves  that  are  apt  to  become 


Each  One  of  Us  179 

fixed  ruts.  And  this  makes  ruts  in  their  thinking. 
Their  souls  seem  to  grow  small  by  the  very  small- 
ness  and  sameness  of  the  daily  tread.  That  is  the 
life  of  the  great  crowd  of  men  all  over  the  world. 

It's  an  immense  relief  to  see  something  big 
Big  things  always  attract.  Is  it  partly  because 
our  daily  round  is  so  narrow  and  small  ?  Jesus 
plans  a  bigness  that  shall  refresh  us  constantly. 
We  have  hearts  big  enough  to  hold  a  world,  and 
brains  able  to  plan  for  a  planet,  even  while  our 
feet  tread  the  same  old  shut-in  path. 

A  young  man  may  be  going  a  commonplace, 
treadmill  sort  of  grind,  in  a  small  corner  of  some 
great  manufacturing  concern,  and  be  at  the  same 
time  carrying  on  a  bigger  enterprise  than  the 
president  of  his  concern.  For  he  may  be  planning 
and  praying  for  a  world,  and  actually  lifting  it 
up  in  the  arms  of  his  strong  purpose  toward  the 
level  of  God. 

The  shipping  clerk  may  be  hammering  in 
barrel-heads  all  day  long,  but  each  blow  may 
help  emphasize  the  prayer  of  his  heart  for  Chinaj 
or  India,  or  his  Sunday-school  class. 

"  Forenoon,  afternoon,  and  night,  v^ 

Forenoon,  afternoon,  and  night. 
Forenoon,  afternoon,  and  what?  no  more? 
The  empty  song  repeats  itself.     Yea,  that  is  life. 
Make  this  forenoon  sublime,  this  afternoon  a  psalm, 
This  night  a  prayer,  and  time  is  conquered,  and  thy 
crown  is  won." 

The  Master's  gracious  plan  is  that  we  shall  have 
the  refreshment  of  doing  big  things.    We  are 


1 8  o  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

made  for  big  things.  They  help  us  grow  into 
the  big  size  that  belongs  to  us.  World-winning 
is  a  great  boon  to  the  crowd  compelled  by  the 
habit  of  life  to  tread  a  narrow  path. 

Giving  God  Free  Use  of  Ourselves. 

Now  the  great  question  every  earnest  man  asks 
himself  is,  How  can  I  be  of  most  use  to  God  and 
my  fellows?  I  want  to  suggest  three  things  that 
have  helped  me  in  answering  that  question.  It 
may  be  that  they  will  help  you,  too,  in  getting 
your  answer  to  it. 

First  of  all  is  this:  that  we  let  God  have  the 
free  use  of  us.  Whatever  I  am,  whatever  gifts 
and  opportunities  I  have — these  I  will  turn  over 
to  God,  that  He  may  have  the  fullest  and  freest 
use  of  them.  God  asks  from  each  of  us  a  conse- 
crated personality.  And  "consecrated'*  simply 
means  that  I  give  God  the  use  of  myself,  and  that 
He  makes  use  of  what  I  have  given  to  Him. 
That's  the  double  meaning  of  the  word  in  the  Bible. 

My  personality,  that  is,  what  I  am  in  myself,  is 
the  chief  thing  I  have  in  life.  It  is  through  this 
personality,  which  men  recognize  as  I,  that  the 
Spirit  of  God  works  in  His  reaching  out  for  others. 
My  personality  is  the  make-up  of  all  that  I  am. 
My  presence  is  that  subtle  something  that  com- 
bines aU  that  I  am.  It  clings  to  me  wherever 
I  go.  Men  know  it  by  my  name.  Out  through 
it  goes  the  power  of  the  man  within. 

The  body,  the  glance  of  the  eye,  the  quality  and 
intonation  of  the  voice,  the  way  the  body  is  carried, 


Each  One  of  Us  i8i 

and  the  something  more  than  these  that  unites 
them  into  one — these  go  to  make  up  the  presence, 
the  outer  shell  of  the  personality.  All  the  power 
within  makes  itself  felt  through  this.  A  man's 
mere  presence  is  an  immeasurable  influence. 

There  is  a  subtle,  intangible,  but  very  real  spirit 
influence  breathing  out  of  every  man's  presence. 
It  is  proportioned  entirely  to  the  strength  of  the 
man  living  within.  With  some  it  is  very  at- 
tractive. Sometimes  it  is  positively  repulsive. 
It  is  the  expression  of  the  man  within.  The 
presence  becomes  the  mould  of  the  spirit  within, 
large  or  small,  noble  or  mean,  coarse  or  fine,  as 
he  makes  it.  The  strength  of  a  man's  will  or 
its  weakness;  the  purity  of  his  heart  oi  its  lack  of 
purity;  the  ideals  of  his  life,  high  or  low;  the 
keenness  or  slowness  of  his  thinking — all  these  ex- 
press themselves  in  his  presence. 

We  know  the  difference  between  a  man  of  strong 
presence  and  one  whose  presence  is  weak; 
though  very  few  of  us  are  skilled  in  reading, 
except  in  a  very  small  way,  the  character  it  reveals; 
through  our  presence  each  of  us  is  constantly 
influencing  those  with  whom  we  come  in  contact. 
Now  this  is  the  chief  thing  we  have  for  our  win- 
ning work.  This  is  the  thing  that  Jesus  uses. 
It  is  this  that  the  Spirit  of  God  takes  possession  of, 
if  He  may,  and  that  He  uses  in  His  outreach  to 
others.  We  win  most  and  best  through  what  we 
are. 

Now,  of  course,  I  do  not  mean  that  we  are  to  be 
thinking  of  it  that  way  all  the  time.    The  think- 


1 82  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

ing  that  you  have  a  winsome  presence  would  it- 
self rob  you  of  the  most  winsome  part  of  it.  Win- 
someness  of  presence  is  greatest  and  sweetest  when 
we  are  wholly  unconscious  that  there  is  such  a 
thing  about  us.  As  we  are  absorbed  in  Jesus, 
and  in  our  fellows,  the  winsomeness  that  is  na- 
tive to  us  shines  out  most  attractively.  It 
has  been  covered  up  and  hidden  away  a  good 
bit  by  sin.  Some  men  seem  to  have  none. 
Some  have  a  great  deal,  in  spite  of  their  ignor- 
ing of  God. 

But  as  He  is  allowed  to  play  upon  us,  as  we 
seek  to  let  His  Spirit  rule  our  conduct  and  control 
our  powers,  the  original  God-image  comes  out. 
This  is  a  return  to  natural  conditions  as  planned 
by  God.  What  has  been  lost  through  sin  is  re- 
stored and  grown  bigger  and  richer  by  the  Spirit's 
presence.  I  can  give  God  the  full  use  of  this 
precious  gift  of  personality. 

Growing  Bigger  for  Servicers  Sake. 

There's  a  second  thing  to  do.  This  consecrated 
personality  can  be  made  a  developed  personality. 
We  don't  start  into  life  full  size.  We  have  to 
grow.  The  greatest  task  of  life,  as  well  as  one  of 
the  sweetest,  is  in  growing  fine  in  grain,  and  big  in 
size,  and  skilled  in  action.  The  highest  achieve- 
ment of  life  and  the  rarest  to  find  is  self-mastery, 
that  is,  all  that  one  is  in  himself  grown  big  and 
fine-grained,  skilfully  used  and  held  steadily  to 
its  true  use.  All  other  achievements  are  through 
this  one. 


Each  One  of  Us  183 

The  stronger  I  can  make  my  body  the  more  I 
can  give  God  to  use.  The  more  thoroughly  I  can 
understand  the  great,  simple  laws  of  my  body,  and 
the  more  I  can  get  into  the  habit  of  obeying  them, 
the  more  can  God  use  me  in  His  plans.  Such 
common  things  as  eating  and  drinking,  breathing 
and  exercising,  sleeping  and  resting  and  dress, 
may  not  be  called  common  any  more,  if  through 
thoughtfulness  here  you  and  I  can  be  of  greater 
use  to  our  Master  and  our  fellows. 

The  keener  and  clearer  and  stronger  we  can 
make  our  thinking,  by  dint  of  self-discipline,  the 
greater  power  have  we  with  other  men.  The 
purer  the  heart,  the  loftier  the  practical  ideals  that 
control  the  personal  habits,  the  greater  is  the  win- 
ning power  at  command. 

We  may  not  be  conscious  of  the  difference. 
We  will  not  be  thinking  of  that.  But  the  in- 
creased power  of  attraction  is  there,  and  is  breath- 
ing out  of  one's  presence,  and  is  distinctly  felt  by 
others.  And,  more,  it  is  making  a  distinct  mark 
upon  others,  more  than  they  know.  We  must 
set  ourselves  to  growing  bigger  and  better  for 
service's  sake. 

My  Mission-field. 

The  third  thing  is  a  world-wide  vision.  That 
is  to  say,  our  thinking  and  planning  and  praying 
and  giving  shall  be  on  a  world  scale.  There  is 
nothing  remarkable  about  this.  The  strangely 
remarkable  thing  is  that  there  is  so  little  of  it. 
Man  was  made  on  the  world  size.     It  is  natural 


i84  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

to  us  to  grasp  the  world  in  our  thinking  and 
action.  This  other  thing  of  living  on  a  smaller 
scale  is  the  cramping  effect  of  sin.  We  were 
made  big.  We  are  big.  We  need  a  big  world. 
We  enjoy  bigness.  We  get  this  from  God.  We 
are  truest  to  ourselves  as  we  live  on  the  world 
plan.  The  world  was  given  us  originally  to  sub- 
due, and  now  to  win. 

This  does  not  mean  to  neglect  anything  or 
anybody  nearby.  It's  a  bit  of  the  cramping  of 
sin  that  anybody  thinks  so.  The  man  who 
spreads  a  map  of  the  world  beside  his  open 
Bible  in  the  morning  or  evening  prayer-hour  is 
likely  to  have  a  warm  hand  for  the  fellow  next  him. 
We  are  made  that  way,  to  grasp  the  globe,  and 
each  thing  close  at  hand  that  needs  our  care. 
That's  a  bit  of  the  image  of  God  in  us.  As  we 
allow  Him  sway,  the  original  power  is  restored 
to  us. 

One  result  of  this  will  be  that  many  of  us  will 
go  in  person  to  some  far-away  part  of  the  great 
world-field.  That's  a  serious  thing  to  do,  re- 
quiring some  special  qualification  of  body  and 
of  training.  For  the  task  out  there  is  a  great  one. 
There  are  trying  conditions  to  be  met.  The  very 
best  is  caUed  for. 

If  a  man  may  go  in  person  to  the  foreign  field 
he  is  greatly  favored.  Let  nothing  hold  him  back. 
It  is  a  privilege  to  serve  anywhere.  But  the 
highest  privilege  of  service  is  out  there.  Many 
cannot  go;  and  many  may  not  go.  Some  are 
plainly  bidden  to  stay.    The  home  administration 


Each  One  of  Us  185 

of  the  missionary  enterprise  requires  strong  men 
at  home. 

A  second  result  will  be  that  wherever  we  are, 
will  be  a  mission-field  to  us.  We  are,  where  we 
are,  to  give,  not  to  get.  Whether  in  far-off  China 
or  maybe  in  some  disillusioned  commonplace 
home  town,  we  will  be  winning  men  to  Jesus  all 
the  time  by  direct  touch.  The  mastering  thought 
will  be  to  let  the  wondrous  Spirit  reach  out  through 
us,  freely  and  fully,  unhindered  by  anything  in  us, 
and  so  touch  every  one  whom  we  touch. 

In  any  circle,  business  or  social,  our  hearts  will 
be  saying,  "I  am  among  you  as  he  that  serveth." 
Consciously,  by  direct  word,  by  indirect  touch, 
with  love's  rare  diplomacy  we  will  win  men.  Un- 
consciously, by  our  presence,  we  will  as  really  be 
winning  them. 

No  one  has  an  imagination  vivid  enough,  or 
words  graphic  enough,  to  tell  the  power  of  that 
direct  human  touch.  All  life  is  athrill  with  its 
magic.  Even  when  it  becomes  less  direct,  a  bit 
removed  from  the  personal,  its  power  is  indescrib- 
ably great. 

John  Eliot's  work  among  the  Massachusetts 
Indians  kindled  David  Brainerd.  Brainerd's 
flame  touched  Jonathan  Edwards.  Edwards' 
pamphlet  on  "Extraordinary  Prayer  for  a  Revival 
of  Religion  and  the  Advancement  of  Christ's  King- 
dom on  Earth"  suggested  to  William  Carey  the 
plan  of  an  organized  society.  Fire  spreads. 
Where  the  touch  of  God  comes  the  fire  of  God 
goes  out  through  that  human  touch. 


1 8  6  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

Our  Spirit-touch, 

A  third  result  will  be  this:  we  wiU  be  reaching 
out  and  winning  men  in  all  the  rest  of  the  world  by 
our  spirit-touch.  You  may  be  in  some  African 
fastness  or  in  the  midst  of  China's  age-old  civili- 
zation or  just  here  at  home,  but  you  can  be  exert- 
ing a  tremendous  spirit-power  that  can  be  felt  out 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

It  will  all  be  in  the  Name  of  Jesus.  It  will  be  in 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  Only  in  that  Name 
and  through  the  Spirit  can  such  winning  influence 
be  exerted  at  all.  So  a  man  can  have  spirit- 
touch  with  the  man  by  his  side.  And  just  as 
truly  he  can  have  spirit-touch  with  men  at  the 
farthest  reach  of  the  earth. 

There  is  a  spirit  influence  going  out  from  each 
of  us  in  addition  to  that  which  goes  through  the 
direct  personal  touch.  It  is  not  a  conscious  in- 
fluence. That  is,  we  are  not  concsious  that  it  is 
being  exerted.  It  goes  out  from  us  as  we  pray. 
It  goes  out  of  us  as  our  thought  is  centered  on 
those  far-away  parts  and  peoples.  Its  strength 
will  depend  on  the  strength  of  one's  person- 
ahty. 

We  are  familiar  with  the  fact  that  a  man  of 
strong  personality  has  a  greater  influence  upon 
his  fellows  whom  he  touches  directly  than  a  weaker 
man  has.  It  is  just  the  same  with  regard  to  one's 
spirit-touch.  The  stronger  and  keener  and  purer 
I  may  become,  the  more  I  know  of  the  self- 
mastery  which  comes  through  Jesus-mastery,  the 


Each  One  of  Us  187 

greater  force  can  I  exert  as  a  winner  of  men,  both 
by  direct  touch  and  by  spirit-touch. 

Will  you  kindly  come  up  nearer  in  spirit,  as  we 
close  our  talk  together,  and  let  me  ask  softly: 
Have  we  given  the  free  use  of  ourselves  to  the  Mas- 
ter? Are  we  growing  ourselves  into  bigger- 
sized,  finer-grained,  better-controlled  men  and 
women  daily?  For  the  Master  is  depending  on 
us.  He  is  counting  much  on  having  the  use  of  us. 
He  can  reach  out  to  the  very  ends  of  the  earth 
through  each  one  of  us.    May  we  not  fail  Jesus ! 


JESUS 

Jesus  Draws  Men. 

Jesus  Draws  out  the  Best. 

Many  Doors,  but  One  Purpose. 

Make  it  a  Story. 

How  Peter  Told  Paul. 

"A  More  Excellent  Way." 


J 


esus 


Jesus  Draws  Men. 


The  great  heart-magnet  is  God.  No  one  is  so 
winsomely  attractive  as  He.  His  winning  power 
is  beyond  any  other.  Man  is  winsome.  But  it 
is  because  God  made  him  winsome,  and  re-makes 
him  yet  more  winsome.  He  gave  him  a  bit  of 
His  own  self.  That's  the  secret  of  all  our  human 
winsomeness. 

Now  Jesus  is  God  to  us.  We  know  God  only 
as  we  know  Jesus.  Jesus  is  the  heart  of  God 
beating  in  time  and  tune  with  human  hearts. 
Nobody  is  so  winsome  as  Jesus.  All  the  native 
winsomeness  of  man  and  all  the  divine  winsome- 
ness of  God  combine  and  blend  in  Him.  He  has 
always  drawn  men  to  Himself.  And  He  still 
does,  and  always  will. 

He  drew  men  of  all  classes  when  He  was  down 
here.  The  reverent  star-students  of  far-away 
Babylon  were  drawn  to  His  birth  by  a  compelling 
they  could  not  resist.  He  drew  the  thoughtful, 
scholarly  men  of  His  own  nation,  such  as  Nico- 
demus  of  the  inner,  highest  circle.  And  He  drew 
military  ofiScials  of  high  rank  and  wealth  in  the 
service  of  imperial  Rome.  By  the  same  power 
the    half-breed,    despised    Samaritans   and    the 

191 


1 9  2  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

earnest  seekers  after  truth  from  cultured  Greece 
were  drawn  to  Him. 

The  plain  farmer  people  of  Galilee,  and  the 
hardy  fisherfolk,  and  hard-handed  laboring-men 
came  as  eagerly  to  him.  He  drew  the  pure,  fine- 
grained, gentle  Mary  of  Bethany,  with  her  unusual 
keenness  of  spirit  insight;  and  drew  as  well  the 
unnamed  outcast  woman,  steeped  in  sin,  who  was 
forgiven  much,  and  who  loved  much,  and  so  gave 
much. 

Practical  hard-headed  men  of  sharp  bargains 
and  shrewd  trading,  like  Matthew,  felt  His  pull 
upon  their  hearts  equally  with  men  of  pure  heart 
and  lofty  ideals  like  Nathanael.  By  special 
effort,  for  a  special  purpose  He  drew  high-bred, 
high-strung,  scholarly,  intense  Paul,  out  of  his 
mad  enmity  into  a  lifelong  devotion. 

The  crowds  came  until  His  daily  routine  and 
ministering  help  were  repeatedly  and  seriously 
interrupted.  And  strong  men  sought  Him  alone 
to  lay  bare  the  longings  and  questionings  of  their 
hearts.  His  Roman  judge  felt  the  strange 
winsomeness  of  His  presence  and  speech,  though 
lacking  in  the  courage  to  follow  his  convictions 
regarding  Him.  And  the  Roman  officer  in 
charge  of  His  execution  was  forced  to  admit  the 
power  of  His  presence. 

All  the  world  gathered  about  His  cross.  Rep- 
resentatives from  all  parts,  in  large  numbers, 
were  at  the  Jerusalem  feast;  and  on  that  morn- 
ing, by  common  consent,  they  were  drawn  out  to 
the  place  where  He  hung. 


Jesus  193 

He  even  drew  the  arch-tempter.  He  came 
with  his  subtlest  temptations,  and  bitterest  enmity, 
and  most  malignant  cunning.  Could  there  be 
greater  evidence,  by  contrast,  of  the  drawing  power 
of  His  purity  and  goodness  and  steadfast  devo- 
tion to  His  mission  ? 

Jesus  Draws  Out  the  Best. 

And  Jesus  had  the  power  to  draw  out  of  men 
the  best  there  was  in  them.  Possibilities,  traits, 
and  powers  that  neither  they  nor  their  friends  sup- 
posed they  had  came  out  into  strong  life  under 
the  spell  of  His  touch.  There  seemed  to  be 
something  in  Him  that  drew  the  same  sort  of  thing 
out  of  them. 

Out  of  Simon,  the  hot-headed,  impulsive  fisher- 
man, He  drew  the  steady  man  of  rock.  Out  of 
fiery  John,  the  son  of  thunder.  He  drew  the  man 
of  tender,  strong  love.  And  out  of  quiet,  retiring 
Andrew  He  drew  a  man  with  a  reputation  for 
bringing  others  to  Jesus. 

He  drew  out  of  the  Sychar  outcast  a  sense  of  her 
sin,  and  then  a  winner  of  souls;  and  out  of  that 
other  woman  of  open  sin,  a  longing  .or  purity 
that  paved  the  way  to  all  else  that  came.  Under 
His  compelling  touch  there  came  out  of  the  blind- 
born  man  a  willingness  to  sacrifice  all  for  such  a 
Master;  and  out  of  James,  the  other  son  of  thun- 
der, a  courage  to  endure  suffering  that  men  had 
not  known  he  had. 

That  was  when  He  was  down  here,  a  man. 
And  ever  since  that  fleecy  cloud  received  Him  out 
«3 


194   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

of  sight  He  has  been  drawing  men  of  all  the  world. 
And  time  would  as  utterly  fail  me,  as  it  did  the 
writer  of  the  Hebrews,  if  I  tried  to  tell  of  the  men 
He  has  drawn.  Men  of  every  rank,  high  and  low, 
in  every  nation,  savage  and  civilized,  in  every 
generation  of  all  these  centuries  have  felt  the  thrill 
of  His  power.  And  they  have  followed  Him  at 
the  cost  of  all  that  men  hold  most  dear. 

And  He  is  just  the  same  to-day.  He  is  as  avail- 
able now  in  all  His  drawing  power  wherever  men 
meet,  in  city  slum  and  savage  wild,  in  college  hall 
and  business  street,  among  the  philosophical  and 
cultured,  and  among  the  ignorant  and  untrained. 
If  we  will  take  Him  to  them,  and  let  Him  out 
through  our  lips  and  lives,  He  will  draw  men  up 
the  heights.  He  can  draw  against  any  power  of 
downward  suction,  and  He  will.  He  promised 
to  draw  men,  if  lifted  up.  And  He  has  never 
failed  to  do  it. 

Now,  it  is  this  drawing  Jesus  that  men  need 
and  want.  There  is  an  enormous  advantage  in 
taking  Jesus  to  men,  because  there  is  a  something 
inside  men  everywhere  that  responds  to  Jesus. 
That  something  may  be  choked  and  covered  up, 
crowded  down  and  fought  against,  as  it  is.  But 
it  is  there.  When  you  take  Jesus  to  a  man  you 
may  know  that  you  are  taking  a  supply  to  a  de- 
mand. You  are  bringing  a  man  the  answer  to  his 
heart's  questions.  It  is  as  the  coming  together 
of  two  parts  that  belong  together,  but  have  been 
held  apart  by  some  hindrance. 

That   hindrance   is   stubborn.     It   has   to   be 


Jesus  1 95 

fought.  It  can  be  overcome.  That's  the  chief 
task.  Then  the  part  in  man  that  answers  to 
Jesus  eagerly  fits  into  its  place  in  Him.  That 
coming  together  is  always  blessed,  beyond  words. 
Everywhere  men  of  all  sorts  and  ranks  and  de- 
grees of  savagery  and  culture  eagerly  respond  to 
Him.  And  they  declare  that  they  find  in  Him 
the  full  answer  to  their  deepest  longings. 

Many  Doors,  hut  One  Purpose. 

It  is  this  marvellous  magnet,  Jesus,  that  we  are 
to  take  to  men;  not  theology,  nor  education,  nor 
medical  skill,  nor  hospitals,  nor  industrial  helps, 
except  incidentally.  These  are  the  tin  cup  which 
one  is  glad  to  use  to  give  the  thirsty  traveller  water 
from  the  spring. 

You  will  understand  at  once  that  I  have  no 
thought  of  criticizing  theology  or  of  discrediting 
it,  if  I  could.  It  has  its  place.  But  that  place  is 
not  out  in  the  thick  of  the  crowd,  but  back  in  the 
quiet  hall  of  study.  There  must  be  thorough 
study  and  systematic  putting  together  of  the  truth. 
There  needs  to  be  patient  plodding  and  mental 
drilling. 

You  have  no  need  to  be  told  of  the  immeasur- 
able value  of  the  splendid  foundation  building 
of  Christian  scholars.  But  this  is  school  work, 
in  the  main.  It  is  to  make  us  better  workmen. 
So  a  man  gets  his  bearings  and  poise.  But  the 
people  down  in  the  dust  and  drive  of  the  crowd 
don't  want  theology.  They  want  Jesus.  It  is  strik- 
ing that  everywhere  men  want  to  hear  about  Jesus. 


196    Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

Educational  work  has  played  an  indispensably 
great  part  in  the  scheme  of  missions.  But  the 
purpose  of  it,  of  course,  is  to  make  an  open  door  for 
the  entrance  of  Jesus  into  men's  lives.  It  is  in- 
valuable in  itself  alone,  regardless  of  any  other 
purpose.  But  the  teacher  of  any  sort  of  learning 
in  the  mission  school,  who  is  chiefly  absorbed  in 
the  teaching  itself  instead  of  using  it  as  a  means  to 
something  higher,  is  missing  the  whole  purpose  of 
his  work. 

And  what  words  can  be  used  strong  enough  in 
speaking  of  the  blessed  work  of  medical  men  in 
foreign-mission  lands  ?  These  skilled,  patient,  faith- 
ful men  and  women  in  hospital  and  dispensary  and 
private  service  are  doing  a  work  of  incalculable 
value.  It  should  be  done  even  if  the  bodily  re- 
sults were  all.  But  the  underlying  purpose 
through  it  all  is  to  lead  men  to  know  Jesus. 
And  no  one  has  such  a  short,  quick  road  into  a 
man's  heart  as  he  who  can  relieve  his  body. 

These  things  are  doorways  into  men's  lives; 
and  great  doorways,  too.  They  are  well  worth 
all  the  money  and  lives  expended  if  they  went  no 
farther  than  body  and  mind  and  better  conditions. 
But  the  main  purpose  in  them  is  to  find  a  way 
into  men's  hearts,  and  take  in  Jesus;  that  so  men 
may  get  the  greater  as  well  as  the  less. 

Make  it  a  Story. 

Now,  how  shall  we  best  tell  men  of  Jesus? 
Well,  the  modern  newspaperman's  rule  in  his 
work  is  this:  " Make  it  a  story."    This  is  his  lead- 


Jesus  1 97 

ing  rule  in  all  his  writing  work.  Whatever  the 
occasion  may  be,  whether  a  meeting  of  scholars 
or  an  accident  on  the  street,  it  is  to  be  put  into 
story-form.  That  is  the  ideal  toward  which  he 
works.  All  the  descriptions,  and  quotations, 
and  information,  and  philosophizings  are  to  be 
woven  into  this  web.  They  know  that  a  story 
is  the  easiest  thing  to  read  and  to  listen  to,  and 
also  the  hardest  to  tell  well. 

That  should  be  our  rule  here:  Make  it  a  story 
about  Jesus.  When  it  comes  to  talking  the  Gos- 
pel to  a  group  of  people,  large  or  small,  in  New 
York  or  Shanghai,  make  it  a  story.  Wherever 
you  may  begin  the  story,  see  that  its  purpose  is  to 
lead  up  to  Jesus.  You  may  use  twenty-five 
minutes  in  getting  your  story  out,  and  then  put 
the  Jesus  touch  in  the  last  five  minutes.  But 
as  they  go  away  that  last  five  has  given  its  flavor 
to  the  whole  half-hour's  talk.  Or,  you  may  begin 
with  Him,  and  so  run  through.  But  the  rule 
should  be:  Make  it  a  simple,  natural,  attractive 
story,  such  as  people  will  want  to  listen  to,  be- 
cause it  interests  them. 

That  means  a  lot  of  hard  work  in  preparation. 
The  simpler  and  easier  and  more  natural  it  seems 
to  the  crowd  the  more  it  will  have  cost  you  in 
study.  You  will  have  to  study  so  carefully  that 
they  won't  guess  you  have  studied  at  all.  You 
must  absorb  this  Bible  story,  bit  by  bit,  through 
and  through,  until  it  becomes  a  bit  of  yourself. 

You  must  use  books  that  help  make  this 
Book  clearer  and  plainer.     That  is  really  the  mis- 


198    Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

sion  of  biblical  books,  to  make  the  Book  plainer. 
If  they  send  you  to  the  Bible  they  have  fulfilled 
their  mission.  If  you  stay  in  them,  they  have  failed. 

The  Bible  is  an  Oriental  book  in  its  way  of  putting 
things.  Its  story  is  built  upon  the  habits  of  those 
Eastern  peoples.  While  it  is  full  of  simple  teach- 
ing easily  understood,  one  needs  to  understand 
those  habits  to  get  the  real  meat  of  the  meaning. 
This  means  a  habit  of  hard  work  for  him  who 
would  be  a  winner  of  men.  He  should  have  an 
ambition  to  know  the  Bible  story  thoroughly, 
and  to  get  it  from  the  Bible  itself. 

But,  whatever  your  particular  message  may  be 
at  any  time,  let  it  lead  up  by  a  straight  road  to 
Jesus.  Follow  the  rule  of  the  Book  itself  here. 
The  Old  Testament  all  points  to  Jesus.  It  can 
be  understood  only  as  He  is  understood.  And 
the  New  is  aflame  with  His  presence.  Tell  the 
story  of  Jesus  to  men.  They  never  tire  of  that. 
Tell  it  accurately.  Tell  it  simply.  Tell  it  with 
endless  variety.  Put  it  in  simple  every -day  words, 
so  they  think  about  the  story  and  not  about  you 
or  your  words. 

Tell  Jesus^  life;  His  characteristics;  how  He 
mingled  among  men,  and  talked  with  them. 
Take  up  the  Gospel  incidents,  and  give  them  their 
natural  flavoring  and  coloring  in  present-day 
speech.  Tell  of  the  Nazareth  life,  in  home  and 
carpenter  shop  and  village.  Go  through  those 
wondrous  three  and  a  half  years,  bit  by  bit. 

Go  into  the  temptation  wilderness,  out  on  the 
blue  waters  of  Galilee,  and  into  Gethsemane's 


Jesus  1 99 

olive-grove.  Climb  that  bit  of  a  rise  of  ground 
called  Calvary.  Wherever  you  are  in  that  story, 
make  sure  that  the  coloring  of  Calvary  gets 
distinctly  in,  by  word  or  phrase  or  climax  or 
somehow. 

Now,  of  course,  there  will  be  some  theology  in 
your  telling.  You  will  make  comments  and  ex- 
planations. And  preachers  call  that  theology. 
That  is  unavoidable.  That  is  the  place  for  such 
teaching,  as  it  naturally  grows  out  of  the  story. 
But  the  story  should  be  the  main  thing.  Men 
should  be  sent  away  thinking  about  a  Man,  Jesus; 
not  about  a  theory  of  doctrine. 

How  Peter  Told  Paul. 


I  remember  very  distinctly  one  time  Mr.  Moody 
was  speaking  at  the  Ohio  Sunday-school  Con- 
vention in  Cleveland.  He  was  saying  that  teachers 
should  open  up  the  Bible  and  make  it  attractive. 
Then  he  told  the  story  of  how,  in  '84,  in  London 
he  was  talking  with  a  lawyer  friend  who  had  just 
come  down  from  Edinburgh.  He  had  been  hear- 
ing Andrew  Bonar  preach  up  there,  and  was  great- 
ly taken  with  his  way  of  preaching. 

Mr.  Moody  told  the  story  something  like  this : 
"Bonar  was  preaching  in  Galatians,  where  it 
says  that  Paul  went  to  Jerusalem  to  see  Peter, 
and  he  said  that  he  could  imagine  Peter  saying 
to  Paul,  '  Would  you  like  to  take  a  walk  ? '  and 
Paul  said  he  would,  so  they  went  down  through 
the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  over  the  brook  Kidron, 
arm  in  arm,  and  Peter  stopped  and  said,  '  Look, 


200    Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

Paul,  this  is  the  very  spot  where  He  wrestled  and 
where  He  suffered,  and  sweat  great  drops  of  blood. 
There  is  the  very  spot  where  Jolm  and  James 
fell  asleep,  right  there.  And  right  here  is  the  very 
spot  where  I  fell  asleep.  I  don't  think  I  should 
have  denied  Him  if  I  hadn't  gone  to  sleep,  but  I 
was  overcome.  I  remember  the  last  thing  I  heard 
Him  say  before  I  feU  asleep  was,  ''Father,  let 
this  cup  pass  from  me  if  it  is  Thy  will."  And 
when  I  awoke  an  angel  stood  right  there  where  you 
are  standing,  talking  to  Him,  and  I  saw  great 
drops  of  blood  come  from  His  pores  and  trickle 
down  His  cheeks.  It  wasn't  long  before  Judas 
came  to  betray  Him.  And  I  heard  Him  say  to 
Judas,  so  kindly,  "Betrayest  thou  the  Master 
with  a  kiss?"  And  then  they  bound  Him  and 
led  Him  away.  And  that  night  when  He  was 
on  trial  I  denied  Him.' 

"He  pictured  the  whole  scene.  And  the  next 
day  Peter  turned  again  to  Paul  and  said, '  Wouldn't 
you  like  to  take  another  walk  to-day  ? '  and  Paul 
said  he  would.  That  day  they  went  to  Calvary. 
And  when  they  got  on  the  hill  Peter  said,  '  Here, 
Paul,  this  is  the  very  spot  where  He  died  for  you 
and  me.  See  that  hole  right  there?  That  is 
where  His  cross  stood.  The  believdng  thief 
hung  there,  and  the  unbelieving  thief  there  on 
the  other  side.  Mary  Magdalene  and  Mary,  Plis 
mother,  stood  there,  and  I  stood  away  on  the  out- 
skirts of  the  crowd. 

"  'The  night  before,  when  I  denied  Him,  He 
looked  at  me  so  lovingly  that  it  broke  my  heart, 


Jesus  20 1 

and  I  couldn't  bear  to  get  near  enough  to  see  Him. 
That  was  the  darkest  hour  of  my  Hfe.  I  was  in 
hopes  that  God  would  intercede  and  take  Him 
from  the  cross.  I  kept  listening,  and  I  thought 
I  would  hear  His  voice.'  And  he  pictured  the 
whole  scene,  how  they  drove  the  spear  into  His 
side,  and  put  the  crown  of  thorns  on  His  brow, 
and  all  that  took  place. 

"And  the  next  day  Peter  turned  to  Paul  again 
and  asked  him  if  he  wouldn't  take  another  walk. 
And  Paul  said  he  would.  Again  they  passed 
down  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  over  the  brook 
Kidron,  over  Mount  Olivet,  up  to  Bethphage, 
and  over  to  the  slope  near  Bethany.  All  at  once 
Peter  stopped  and  said:  'Here,  Paul,  this  is  the 
last  place  where  I  ever  saw  Him.  I  never  heard 
Him  speak  so  sweetly  as  He  did  that  day. 

*' '  It  was  right  here  He  delivered  His  last  message 
to  us,  and  all  at  once  I  noticed  that  His  feet  didn't 
touch  the  ground.  He  arose  and  went  up.  All 
at  once  there  came  a  cloud  and  received  Him  out 
of  sight.  I  stood  right  here  gazing  up  into  the 
heavens,  in  hopes  I  might  see  Him  again  and  hear 
Him  speak.  And  two  men  dressed  in  white 
dropped  down  by  our  sides  and  stood  there  and 
said :  "  Ye  men  of  GaUlee,  why  stand  ye  gazing 
into  heaven  ?  This  same  Jesus  which  is  taken  up 
from  you  into  heaven,  shall  come  in  like  manner 
as  ye  have  seen  Him  go  into  heaven."  '  " 

Then  Mr.  Moody  said,  "My  friends,  I  want 
to  ask  you  this  question :  Do  you  believe  that  pic- 
ture is  overdrawn?     Do  you  believe  Peter  had 


2  o  2  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

Paul  as  his  guest  and  didn't  take  him  to  Geth- 
semane,  didn't  take  him  to  Calvary  and  Mount 
Olivet?  I  myself  spent  eight  days  in  Jerusalem, 
and  every  morning  I  wanted  to  steal  down  into 
the  garden  where  my  Lord  sweat  great  drops  of 
blood.  Every  day  I  climbed  Mount  Olivet  and 
looked  up  into  the  blue  sky  where  He  went  to 
His  Father. 

''  I  have  no  doubt  Peter  took  Paul  out  on  those 
three  walks.  If  there  had  been  a  man  that  could 
have  taken  me  to  the  very  spot  where  the  Master 
sweat  those  great  drops  of  blood,  do  you  think 
I  would  not  have  asked  him  to  take  me  there? 
Now,  you  ministers,  don't  you  believe  the  people 
want  preaching  like  that  ?  They  do.  They  want 
to  hear  about  the  Lord." 

I  remember  that  I  was  sitting  in  that  convention 
where  I  could  easily  see  the  faces  of  the  people. 
It  was  a  sight  not  to  be  forgotten.  I  remember 
that  sea  of  eager  upturned  faces  as  distinctly  as 
I  remember  Mr.  Moody's  talk.  The  people  sat 
so  still,  as  though  in  a  spell,  with  eyes  big  and  shin- 
ing with  something  wet,  and  occasionally  a  sHght 
twitching  of  emotion  and  a  handkerchief  called 
into  service. 

Mr.  Moody  talked  in  that  natural  way  of  his,  so 
quiet  and  yet  so  intense  in  its  quietness.  That's 
what  people  want — Jesus  brought  to  them,  simply 
and  naturally.  And  Moody  knew  it.  It  took 
years  of  hard  self-discipline  for  him  to  be  able  to 
talk  as  he  did.  Such  talking  takes  study  and  hard 
work.     But  it's  all  worth  while  if  we  can  make 


Jesus  203 

Jesus  plain  to  men  in  all  His  wondrous  winsome- 
ness. 

''A  More  Excellent  Way,'' 

Then  there's  another  way  of  telling  the  story 
of  Jesus  to  men.  It's  a  yet  better  way.  Tell  it 
with  your  life.  That  was  Jesus'  own  plan.  He 
lived  what  He  taught.  He  proposed  coming  down 
into  each  one  of  us  and  living  His  life  over  again  in 
us.  He  does  just  that  now.  Then  as  men 
meet  us  they  are  meeting  Him,  too,  in  us.  The 
things  that  marked  Him  will  be  noticed  in  us. 

The  intense  hatred  of  sin,  the  purity,  the  gen- 
tleness and  patience,  the  warm  sympathy,  the 
constant  self-forgetfulness  and  self-sacrifice,  the 
eagerness  to  win  men,  the  tireless  going  wherever 
men  could  be  helped — these  may  be  in  us  as  they 
were  in  Him,  and  will  be,  as  we  let  Him  Hve  in  us. 
And  men  will  recognize  the  Jesus-story  being  lived 
in  their  midst.  Jesus  wants  to  reach  out  through 
us  to  men.  And  He  will;  He  will;  more  than  we 
ever  know  or  will  know.  This  is  the  best  telling  of 
the  story. 

I  am  told  that  in  the  Palace  of  Justice  in  Rome 
there  is  a  remarkable  chamber  where  visitors 
are  sometimes  taken.  The  remarkable  thing 
about  it  is  the  decorations.  The  ceiling  and 
walls  and  even  the  floors  are  covered  with  strangely 
painted  frescoes.  That  is,  they  seem  strange  as 
one  enters.  They  seem  grotesque.  They  do 
not  harmonize.  They  are  out  of  touch  with  each 
other,  and  make  a  bewildering  maze  of  confusion. 


204   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

But  there  is  one  spot  in  the  chamber,  just  one 
spot  upon  the  floor,  where,  if  you  stand,  every- 
thing falls  into  place.  The  artist's  conception 
stands  out  perfect  in  perspective  and  color  and 
beauty. 

To  the  great  crowd  of  men  in  this  old  world 
life  seems  a  good  bit  like  that  Roman  chamber. 
Things  seem  out  of  harmony — sin,  pain,  confusion, 
unsatisfied  longings,  unconquered  weaknesses, 
broken  plans,  and  disappointed  ambitions.  But 
there  is  one  spot,  a  central  point,  just  one,  where 
all  that  concerns  you  will  come  into  harmony, 
and  bring  heart-rest. 

That  one  spot  is  where  you  take  your  stand 
side  by  side  with  Jesus.  His  presence  clears  every- 
thing up.  He  sweetens  the  life,  and  straightens 
the  path,  and  leads  you  steadily  on  toward  the 
dawning  of  the  day.  And  that's  as  true  for  China 
and  the  Pacific  islanders  as  for  Britisher  or 
American.  Men  need  Jesus.  He  satisfies  them. 
He  is  the  great  magnet.  He  draws  men  as  no 
other  can.  He  places  Himself  at  our  disposal 
to  be  taken  to  men.  They  can't  resist  Him.  Let 
us  take  Him. 

O  Jesus  Master,  thou  hast  drawn  me  till  I 
want  to  be  Thy  slave  forever.  Help  me  take 
Thee  to  all  other  men  that  they  may  feel  Thy 
wondrous  drawing  power,  and  satisfying  power, 
too. 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT 


The  Last  Talk  Together. 
The  Partnership  of  Service. 
The  Power  That  Never  Fails. 
The  Trinity  of  Service. 
Living  on  the  Top  Floor. 
Partial  Weavings  of  the  Strands, 
Unbroken  Connection  Above. 


The   Holy   Spirit 


The  Last  Talk  Together. 

A  little  group  of  men  were  climbing  the  winding 
path  that  led  up  Olivet's  slope.  The  Master  was 
in  the  midst,  and  the  others  before  and  behind, 
where  they  could  hear  His  voice.  For  they  were 
talking  together  as  they  walked  along.  That  is  to 
say,  He  was  talking,  and  they  were  listening,  with 
an  occasional  question.  They  went  on  until  they 
were  over  against  where  little  Bethany  nestles 
in  among  the  blue  hills.  There  they  stood  a 
little  while,  still  talking  together  earnestly. 

It  was  their  last  talk  together.  And  there  were 
two  things  the  Master  was  saying.  Those  two 
things  came  with  all  the  tender  emphasis  of  a  last 
message.  They  were  to  go  on  an  errand  to  the 
world;  a  lifelong  errand,  and  to  the  whole  world. 
That  was  being  burned  in.  But  they  weren't 
to  start  on  the  errand  until  the  Holy  Spirit  had 
come  upon  them.  The  errand  and  the  Spirit's 
presence  were  coupled  together.  That  was  to  be 
their  errand.  And  He  was  to  be  their  life-power 
as  they  went  on  the  errand. 

They  were  to  go.  The  Spirit  was  to  come. 
He  would  come  before  they  went.  They  must 
207 


2o8    Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

not  go  until  He  had  come.  Then  they  were  to  go 
in  His  presence  and  power.  They  would  be 
able  to  go  because  of  Him.  Their  going  would  be 
worth  while,  because  wherever  they  went  He 
would  be  at  work  in  them  and  through  them. 
The  real  work  would  be  done  by  Him.  But 
it  would  be  done  through  them.  His  presence 
was  essential  to  their  work  being  done.  Their 
presence  was  essential  to  His  doing  His  work.  He 
would  work  as  they  went,  and  where  they  went. 

That  was  the  new  blessed  partnership  of  world- 
wide service  planned  by  the  Master  as  He  went 
away.  They  would  tell  of  Jesus.  The  Spirit 
would  open  doors,  guide  their  tongues,  guard 
their  persons,  and  make  the  message  of  Jesus  as  a 
flame  of  fire  in  men's  hearts. 

Just  before  this,  Jesus  had  talked  a  great  deal 
with  His  disciples  about  the  Holy  Spirit.  They 
didn't  yet  know  how  much  this  that  He  was 
saying,  would  come  to  mean  to  them.  But  they 
remembered  after  the  Master  was  gone,  and  then 
they  understood.  When  they  got  down  into  the 
thick  of  the  world's  crowds  they  understood 
the  great  significance  of  what  He  had  said. 

That  last  talk^  they  had  together  in  the  upper 
room  and  along  the  Jerusalem  streets,  on  the  be- 
trayal night,  was  full  of  teaching  about  the  Holy 
Spirit.  And  the  next  time  after  that  that  they  met, 
in  the  upper  room,^  on  the  evening  of  the  resurrec- 
tion day.  He  breathed  strongly  upon  them,  and 
said,  ''  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Spirit."     And  the  very 

'John,  chapters    14-16.  'John    20:19-33. 


The  Holy  Spirit  209 

last  word  on  the  Olivet  slope  was,  "Wait;  wait 
until  the  Holy  Spirit  comes.'*  He  burned  in 
deep  that  their  dependence  must  be  entirely  upon 
the  Spirit. 

The  Partnership  of  Service. 

Jesus  Himself  is  an  illustration  of  what  He  told 
them  about  this.  He  was  on  a  missionary  errand. 
He  had  been  sent  by  His  Father,  even  as  later 
these  men  and  we  have  been  sent.  With  awe 
ever  growing,  one  remembers  that  the  divine 
Jesus  in  the  days  of  His  humanity  gave  Himself 
over  to  the  control  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The 
Spirit  was  the  dominant  factor  in  His  life  and  in 
all  His  activities.  All  His  teachings  and  move- 
ments were  at  the  suggestion  and  direction  and 
control  of  the  Spirit.  The  power  in  speech  and 
action,  in  healing,  in  raising  the  dead,  and  in  the 
wondrous  mastery  of  Himself  was  the  Holy 
Spirit's  power  working  upon  and  through  Jesus. 

Then  it  was  that  as  He  was  going  away  He 
said,  "As  the  Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so  I  send 
you."  And  with  that  He  coupled  the  significant 
breathing  upon  them,  with  the  word,  "Take  ye 
the  Holy  Spirit."  We  are  to  be  as  He,  both  in  our 
utter  dependence  upon  the  Spirit  and  in  our  as- 
surance of  His  power  in  us. 

Ever  since  then  that  has  been  the  effective 
partnership  for  world-service:  men  and  the  Holy 
Spirit;  the  Holy  Spirit  and  men.  If  you  are 
thinking  of  the  human  side  you  say,  "  Men  and  the 
Holy  Spirit."  If  you  are  speaking  of  the  divine 
14 


21  o   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

side,  you  say,  ''  The  Holy  Spirit  and  men."  The 
two  belong  together.  Where  men  have  failed  to  go 
the  Spirit  has  been  hampered  in  speaking  to  men. 
He  has  spoken,  but  the  story  of  salvation  through 
Jesus  has  not  been  known.  The  Spirit's  mouth- 
piece for  the  telling  of  that  story  was  lacking. 
That  seriously  hindered  Him  in  His  work. 

Where  men  have  gone  without  the  Spirit,  that 
is  without  yielding  themselves  habitually  to  His 
control,  they  have  been  sorely  hampered.  It  is 
like  having  the  kindling  wood  set  in  order  for  a 
fire,  but  the  fire  not  started.  There  is  no  heat, 
nor  any  of  fire's  results.  The  kindling  must  have 
the  flame,  and  the  flame  must  have  the  coals.  The 
two  are  partners  in  service. 

This  partnership  belongs  peculiarly  in  the  world- 
wide service  of  winning  men.  If  anybody  needs 
the  Spirit's  presence,  he  does  who  attempts  to  win 
a  man  to  Jesus  anywhere.  But  if  any  man- 
winner  needs  that  presence  more  than  another,  he 
does  who  goes  into  the  peculiar  atmosphere  of  a 
non-Christian  people.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  if 
anybody  can  be  sure  of  the  Spirit's  presence  and 
power  always  with  him,  and  working  through  him, 
he  can  who  has  gone  out  on  the  world-errand. 

That  man  is  in  the  direct  line  of  obedience  to 
Jesus'  command.  The  Spirit  Himself  is  sent  by 
Jesus,  and  comes  to  us  in  direct  obedience  to 
Jesus'  desire.  These  two,  the  man  and  the  Spirit, 
are  as  one  in  the  purpose  that  controls  them. 
That  man  may  depend  on  the  gracious,  irresistible 
Spirit's  power  at  every  turn.    He  is  a  thrice  blest 


The  Holy  Spirit  211 

man,   if  he  have  learned  to  depend  upon  His 
unseen  Partner. 

The  Power  That  Never  Fails, 


You  and  I  have  to  remind  ourselves  con- 
stantly that  our  chief  dependence  is  not  upon  or- 
ganization, nor  method,  nor  personal  talent, 
nor  personal  training,  but  upon  the  Holy  Spirit 
working  through  these.  The  better  organized 
the  human  machinery,  the  better  the  methods 
used,  the  more  there  is  of  personal  gift,  and  the 
more  thoroughly  one's  powers  have  been  drilled, 
the  more  there  is  at  the  Spirit's  disposal  for  Him 
to  use.  The  practical  bother  is  to  remember  this; 
to  get  it  rubbed  in  until  it  is  like  an  instinct  in  us, 
that  the  power  is  all  from  Him,  through  us. 
Not  without  Him,  and  not  without  us;  the  two 
together;  but  always  His  the  far  greater  part — 
indeed,  the  real  part. 

The  Holy  Spirit  has  a  double  work  to  do: 
with  us  who  go;  and  upon  those  to  whom  we  go. 
Within  us  He  has  to  work  out  the  character  of 
Jesus.  He  opens  the  Word,  making  its  mean- 
ing stand  clearly  out.  He  wakens  the  mind  up 
to  do  its  best  work.  He  guides  in  our  decisions, 
suggesting  and  directing  and  controlling  our 
thoughts,  and  in  our  actions,  in  our  dealings  with 
men.  In  things  that  are  little  in  themselves,  but 
on  which  so  much  hinges,  He  guides. 

It  constantly  occurs  that  we  are  not  at  all  con- 
scious of  His  control  at  the  time.  But  after- 
ward we  can  see  how  He  has  been  deftly,  softly 


2 1 2   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

guiding,  with  His  rare  light  touch  upon  us. 
When,  in  the  thick  of  work,  we  may  be  pressed 
hard,  and  a  bit  wearied,  and  in  doubt,  He  sends 
the  quiet,  quick  suggestion  into  our  thoughts  that 
leads  out  of  the  tight  corner  and  into  the  achieve- 
ment of  the  thing  desired.  He  works  through  us, 
and  through  what  we  do,  giving  power  that 
otherwise  would  not  be  there.  While  you  are 
talking  in  conversation  or  in  public  address, 
He  is  working  through  what  you  are  saying. 

And  He  works  upon  those  to  whom  we  go. 
He  opens  doors;  the  doors  of  circumstances  that 
we  find  locked  and  double-padlocked  against 
us.  He  opens  the  yet  tighter-shut,  harder-to- 
open  human  doors.  He  inclines  men  favorably 
toward  us  personally,  and  to  our  message.  Under 
His  touch  the  message  becomes  as  a  tongue  of 
flame,  kindling,  disturbing,  softening,  burning 
down,  and  moulding  over  into  new  shape  the  inner 
man  to  whom  the  message  comes. 

Sometimes  quarrymen  find  a  very  hard  kind 
of  rock  in  the  stone  quarries.  They  pick  little 
grooves  for  the  iron  wedges,  and  then  with  great 
sledge-hammers  drive  these  wedges  into  the  hard 
rock.  But  sometimes  this  fails  to  split  the  rock. 
The  iron  wedges  and  big  sledges  have  no  effect 
at  all  on  the  stubborn  stone.  Then  they  go  at 
it  in  another  way.  The  iron  wedges  are  removed 
from  the  narrow  grooves.  Then  little  wooden 
ones,  of  a  very  hard  fibre  are  selected.  These 
sharp-edged,  well-made  wooden  wedges  are  first 
soaked   in   water.    Then   they   are   put   in   the 


The  Holy  Spirit  213 

grooves  tightly  while  wet,  and  water  is  kept  in  the 
grooves.  The  sledges  are  not  used.  They  would 
smash  the  wooden  wedges. 

The  water  and  wedges  are  left  to  do  their  work. 
The  damp  wood  swells.  The  particles  must 
have  more  room  as  they  swell.  The  granite 
heart  of  rock  can't  stand  against  this  new  pres- 
sure. It  takes  longer  than  with  iron  wedges  and 
sledge,  but  after  a  while  the  rock  yields  and  lies 
split  wide-open.  The  water  works  on  the  wood, 
and  that  in  turn  on  the  stone.  The  iron  wedges 
sometimes  fail,  but  the  wood  and  water  never  fail. 

It  seems  to  be  a  part  of  our  make-up  to  make 
plans,  and  to  count  on  the  plans.  And  planning 
does  much.  We  don't  want  to  plan  less,  neces- 
sarily, but  to  learn  to  depend  more  in  our  planning 
on  the  soft,  noiseless,  but  resistless  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

''The  day  is  long,  and  the  day  is  hard; 
We  are  tired  of  the  march  and  of  keeping  guard; 
Tired  of  the  sense  of  a  fight  to  be  won, 
Of  days  to  live  through,  and  of  work  to  be  done; 
Tired  of  ourselves  and  of  being  alone: 
Yet  all  the  while,  did  we  only  see, 
We  walk  in  the  Lord's  own  company. 
We  fight,  but  'tis  He  who  nerves  our  arm; 
He  turns  the  arrows  that  else  might  harm, 
And  out  of  the  storm  He  brings  a  calm; 
And  the  work  that  we  count  so  hard  to  do, 
He  makes  it  easy,  for  He  works,  too: 
And  the  days  that  seem  long  to  live  are  His — 
A  bit  of  His  bright  eternities — and  close  to  our  need 
His  helping  is."* 

1  Susan  Coolidge. 


2 1 4  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

The  Trinity  of  Service. 

Now,  we  want  to  mark  keenly  that  full  power 
depends  upon  three  things.  There  is  a  trinity 
of  service,  a  human-divine  trinity.  The  full 
results  can  come  only  through  its  working.  The 
ideal  winner  of  men  needs  to  believe  thoroughly  in 
this  trinity. 

First  of  all  is  the  message.  There  needs  to  be  a 
clear  understanding  of  the  Gospel.  That  is  the 
winner's  message.  That  is  the  direct  thing  he  uses 
in  approaching  and  laying  siege  to  some  man's 
heart.  It  is  a  simple  message,  but  very  often  it 
is  grasped  only  partly  by  those  who  tell  it. 

That  message  needs  to  be  understood  clearly 
and  fully  by  the  man  who  would  have  the  great- 
est power  in  winning  men.  From  its  first  plain 
teaching  about  sin,  on  to  the  terrible  results  that 
sin  left  to  itself  works  out;  through  the  blessed 
teaching  of  love  as  shown  most  in  the  sacrifice 
for  sin  which  Jesus  made  on  the  cross;  the  need 
of  a  clean  cutting  with  sin,  and  clear-out  sur- 
render to  Jesus  as  Saviour  and  Master;  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  one's  heart;  and 
then  the  climax  of  service  out  among  men — this 
simple  message  needs  to  be  grasped  fully  and 
clearly.  This  is  the  first  great  essential  in  the 
trinity  of  service. 

There  is  a  second  thing,  yet  more  important, 
that  must  go  with  this  first.  And  that  is  a  man 
who  embodies  the  message  in  himself.  It  isn't 
enough  to  know  the  story  of  the  Gospel,  nor  to  tell 


The  Holy  Spirit  215 

it.  It  must  be  lived.  That  is  the  best  telling  of 
it.  The  man  must  be  a  living  illustration  of  the 
truth  he  is  telling.  He  may  be  conscious  of  not 
illustrating  it  as  he  should.  The  earnest  man 
is  never  aware  that  he  is  as  good  an  illustration  of 
it  as  he  is.  He  may  think  himself  a  poor  illus- 
tration. He  is  quite  apt  to.  But  he  is  yet  more 
apt  not  to  be  thinking  of  that  side  as  he  attempts 
to  win  men.  He  will  be  all  taken  up  with  Jesus, 
and  with  getting  men  to  know  Him. 

The  man  is  more  than  the  message,  even  when  he 
is  less  than  the  message.  When  his  life  fails  to  live 
out  the  truth  he  is  speaking,  still  even  then  he  is 
more.  For  the  life  is  more  than  the  lips.  And, 
while  he  is  talking,  his  life  is  discounting  his  words 
and  taking  away  some  of  the  power  that  belongs 
with  them.  I  do  not  mean  that  those  he  is  talking 
to  are  making  the  comparison,  necessarily.  They 
may  not  know  about  his  life,  whether  it  embodies 
the  message  or  not. 

I  mean  that  the  life  that  is  true  breathes  a  force 
and  power  into  the  man  himself  and  so  into  his 
words.  Or  it  doesn't.  The  message  takes  on  the 
quality  of  the  man.  One  man's  talking  catches 
fire;  another's  doesn't.  The  listeners  know  that 
it  is  so,  though  they  don't  usually  know  why. 
All  the  while  you  and  I  are  trying  to  win  others, 
in  Sunday-school  class  or  meeting,  in  Gospel 
service  or  church  preaching,  in  personal  conver- 
sation or  letter-writing,  there's  a  subtle  some- 
thing that  goes  out  of  us,  as  an  atmosphere,  that 
affects  the  power  of  the  message  we're  giving  out. 


21 6  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

And  that  something  is  actually  greater  in  its 
power  than  the  truth  we  are  speaking.  It  may 
be  a  touch  of  flame  making  the  truth  burn  with- 
in him  who  is  listening.  It  may  be  a  deadly, 
dampening  chill  checking  the  fire  that  is  naturally 
in  the  truth.  The  man  is  always  more  than  the 
message. 

Living  on  the  Top  Floor. 

Then  there  is  a  third  thing.  It  is  yet  more  than 
the  message  or  the  man,  or  than  both  message  and 
man  together.  It  is  this:  the  Holy  Spirit  con- 
trolling the  man  who  embodies  the  message,  I 
mean  by  controlling  him  that  he  has  surrendered 
himself  to  the  Spirit's  control.  And,  further  than 
that,  that  he  cultivates  the  Spirit's  presence. 

There  needs  to  be  a  habitual  cultivation  of  the 
Spirit's  presence  and  friendship,  even  as  we  cul- 
tivate our  human  friendships.  There  needs  to  be 
time  spent  alone,  habitually,  with  the  Book  of 
God.  I  do  not  mean  just  now  merely  studying 
the  Bible  to  get  better  acquainted  with  its  con- 
tents. Something  more  than  that — thoughtful 
meditation  on  its  truths;  the  quiet,  steady  holding 
of  one's  self  open  to  the  searching  and  stimulating 
and  enlightening  influence  of  this  rare  Book. 
The  Spirit  speaks  through  these  pages.  Yet  it  is 
to  be  feared  that  many  a  careful  student  of  its 
pages  does  not  get  deeper  in  than  the  print.  He 
doesn't  know  and  meet  the  Person  who  speaks 
in  the  print  and  through  it. 

Then,  beyond  the  quiet  time  with  the  Book, 


The  Holy  Spirit  217 

there  is  the  holding  of  one's  whole  life  open  to  the 
Spirit's  suggestion  and  subject  to  His  direction. 
He  guides  through  our  thinking.  And  sometimes 
He  guides  us  when  our  thinking,  for  some  reason, 
has  not  gotten  up  high  enough  for  Him  to  guide 
through  it.  Samuel  thought  that  David's  oldest 
brother  was  God's  chosen  one.  But  into  his  rarely 
sensitized  inner  ear  the  Spirit  said  "No."  His 
thinking  wasn't  keen  enough  to  be  the  channel 
through  which  he  could  be  guided.  But  he  had 
learned  to  hold  his  thinking  subject  to  a  higher 
power. 

One  time  Paul  thought  it  would  be  good  to  go 
over  east  into  the  province  of  Bithynia,  and  even 
tried  to  make  a  start  that  way.  But  the  Spirit 
made  plain  His  plan  that  they  were  to  go  in  just 
the  opposite  direction,  to  the  west.  Had  Paul's 
thinking  been  more  open  to  the  Spirit's  touch  at 
that  point,  he  wouldn't  have  made  the  false  start. 
But  he  was  wise  clear  beyond  the  great  crowd  of 
us.  For  at  once  he  dropped  his  own  thought-out 
plans,  and  did  as  he  was  bid. 

The  keener  our  mental  processes  are,  the  better 
informed  we  are,  the  better  poised  our  judg- 
ment— the  better  can  the  Spirit  reveal  His  plans 
to  us  through  this  natural  channel,  if  it  is  open  to 
Him.  But  there  is  one  thing  higher  up  than  our 
thinking  powers.  And  that  is  the  spirit-per- 
ception. The  mental  isn't  at  the  top.  It's  a 
step  up  to  the  spirit  floor,  the  highest  of  all. 

Some  men  of  splendid  ability  and  training  and 
consecration   are   constantly   hampered   because 


21 8   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

they  insist  on  living  on  the  mental  floor.  All  their 
decisions  are  made  there,  not  subject  to  change 
from  above.  And  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  is  the 
Commander-in-chief  of  all  the  forces  in  this  cam- 
paign, is  unable  to  use  them  as  He  would. 

They  haven't  got  the  sensitized  inner  ear  of 
the  quiet  time  that  would  lead  them  up  into 
higher,  broader  service.  They  go  faithfully 
plodding  along  on  the  lower  level.  The  Spirit 
can  use  them,  of  course.  He  does;  but  never 
to  the  full.  The  Spirit  of  God  controlling  the 
man  who  embodies  the  message — this  brings 
fulness  of  power  in  winsome  service;  and  only 
this  can.  It  is  not  by  keenness  of  thinking,  nor 
fulness  of  learning,  nor  shrewd,  well-balanced 
judgment,  but  by  the  Spirit  of  God  working 
through  these,  and  sometimes  working  higher  up 
than  they  have  reached. 

Partial  Weavings  of  the  Strands. 

Now  it  will  help  us,  I  am  sure,  and  make  the 
truth  stand  out  more  clearly,  to  recall  a  good  many 
variations  that  belong  in  here.  Running  back  over 
these  things  brings  up  certain  facts. 

The  truth  has  power  of  blessing  in  itself,  regard- 
less of  who  is  speaking  it.  A  bad  man  may 
preach  the  Gospel,  and  the  truth  itself  will  be  felt 
in  spite  of  the  man.  There  is  a  life  in  truth  itself, 
quite  apart  from  the  medium  of  its  transmission. 
This  explains  why  men  who  have  turned  out  to  be 
bad  men  have  had  good  results  attending  their 
ministry.     But   it   was   the   truth   making   itself 


The  Holy  Spirit  219 

felt  in  spite  of  the  handicap  it  suffered  at  the  hands 
of  the  man  talking. 

And  men  whose  understanding  of  the  truth  is 
very  one-sided  and  meagre  have  been  greatly 
used  and  blessed  in  their  work.  It  is  striking  how 
a  man  who  has  been  rescued  from  a  life  of  open 
sin,  and  who  goes  into  Christian  service  with 
tremendous  earnestness,  will  have  great  power. 
His  emphasis  of  truth  may  be  one-sided.  It  is 
quite  apt  to  be.  He  tells  what  he  has  experi- 
enced. The  man  himself  is  a  living  illustration 
of  the  truth  spoken.  All  the  truth  that  can  get  out 
through  him  has  the  tremendous  push  forward 
of  his  life.     But  the  extent  of  his  service  is  Umited, 

And  there  are  men  who  have  a  clear,  weU- 
rounded  grasp  of  the  blessed  message  of  Jesus, 
and  who  give  it  out  clearly  and  fully.  But  they 
are  hampered  by  their  mental  swaddling-clothes, 
in  which  they  have  been  wrapped  up  in  school- 
days. They  never  get  up  out  of  them  into  the 
freedom  of  strong  action  through  the  Spirits 
control. 

Then,  too,  without  doubt  God's  Spirit  works 
alone,  without  using  anybody.  He  speaks 
through  nature's  beauty  and  power.  He  speaks 
in  the  inner  heart  of  every  man.  He  is  speaking 
directly  to  men  all  the  time  everywhere.  But  the 
message  is  a  partial  one.  The  direct  revelation 
of  God,  in  nature  and  in  conscience,  is  a  limited 
revelation.  The  full  revelation  of  God  was  made 
in  Jesus.  And  so  it  is  in  this  Book  that  tells  of 
Jesus. 


220  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

The  Spirit  of  God  can  speak  most  fully  where 
that  Book  is  known.  He  can  work  most  fully 
and  powerfully  through  the  man  who  lives  the 
Book.  Every  printing  of  this  Bible,  or  any  part 
of  it,  is  giving  the  spirit  freer  entrance  into  men's 
hearts.  Every  one  of  us  who  produces  a  new  trans- 
lation of  it  in  the  language  of  his  life  gives  the 
Spirit  a  wide-open  door  where  otherwise  the 
opening  had  been  narrow. 

Now,  whatever  combination  of  these  there 
may  be,  some  of  the  blessed  power  of  God  will 
be  seen  and  felt.  The  truth  unembodied  or 
even  hampered;  men  who  embody  the  truth  they 
know,  but  whose  knowledge  is  small;  men  of 
much  knowledge,  but  small  practice;  men  of  full 
knowledge,  but  who  have  not  learned  to  let  the 
Spirit  sway  them  fully;  the  Spirit  Himself  speak- 
ing where  Jesus  is  not  known,  and  without  any 
man's  help — through  each  of  these,  power  of 
life  will  go  out  to  men. 

But  the  fulness  of  power  that  runs  like  a  mighty 
stream  goes  only  as  the  three  things  come  into  one. 
The  message,  full  and  clear,  the  man  who  lives  it, 
the  Holy  Spirit  possessing  and  controlling  tJie 
man  who  lives  the  message — this  is  the  trinity 
of  service  through  which  alone  the  flood-tide 
flows. 

Unbroken  Connection  Above. 

That  blessed  flood-tide  of  power  may  be  much 
more  common  than  it  is.  There  needs  to  be  daily 
quiet  time,  alone  with  the  Master,  with  the  door 


The  Holy  Spirit  221 

shut,  the  Book  open,  the  knee  bent,  the  will  bent 
too,  to  a  clear  right  angle,  the  mind  quiet  and 
open,  the  inner  spirit  unhurried;  broad,  thought- 
ful reading;  keen,  clear,  quiet  meditation;  the 
rigorous  squaring  of  the  life  up  to  the  standard 
of  the  Book;  the  cultivation  of  the  Spirit's 
presence  and  friendship;  and  these  habits  steadily 
followed  until  they  become  second  nature. 

Then  will  be  fulfilled  the  promise,  "  Out  of  His 
inner  being  shall  flow  rivers  of  water  of  life^  ^ 
And  men  have  always  been  drawn  irresistibly  to 
the  rivers.  And  yet,  while  there  will  be  fulness 
of  power,  there  wUl  not  be  full  knowledge  of  how 
full  the  power  is.  That  is  reserved  for  *'the 
Morning." 

For  hundreds  of  years  men  have  used  a  con- 
trivance called  a  diving-bell  for  working  under 
water.  Practically  it  enables  a  man  to  live  out  of 
his  native  element.  For  a  man  to  live  in  water 
for  any  length  of  time  is  impossible.  Expert 
divers  do  so  for  a  few  minutes  at  a  time,  but  must 
rise  constantly  to  get  a  fresh  supply  of  air.  But 
their  work  is  dangerous,  and  very  trying  on  the 
body.  By  means  of  the  diving-bell  a  man  may 
live  and  work  for  hours  under  the  water;  that  is 
to  say,  in  an  element  that  of  itself,  unchecked, 
would  quickly  take  his  life. 

The  di\ing-bell  is  a  sort  of  huge  inverted  cup, 
let  down  into  the  water  by  its  own  weight,  open- 
ing downward,  so  that  the  man  in  the  bell  faces 
the  water  directly  with  nothing  between  himself 

'John  7:38. 


222  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

and  it.  Death  by  drowning  is  always  within 
arm's  length,  yet  he  remains  safe.  The  simple 
principle  on  which  the  thing  is  constructed  is 
that  water  and  air  can^t  occupy  the  same  space 
at  the  same  time.  The  bell,  being  fuU  of  air, 
holds  the  water  out. 

But  there  needs  to  be  a  continual  supply  of 
fresh  air  sent  down  by  means  of  a  tube  connected 
with  the  upper  air.  Death  by  drowning  and 
death  by  suffocation,  both  threaten  constantly, 
and  each  is  held  off,  one  by  the  air,  and  the  other 
by  the  continual  supply  of  fresh  air.  The  man's 
ability  to  work  and  his  very  life  depend  upon 
the  uninterrupted  connection  with  the  fresh  air 
above. 

The  Christian  man  in  this  world  is  living  out  of 
his  native  breathing  element.  He  needs  to  have 
his  own  atmosphere  with  him,  or  else  he  will  die. 
And  he  needs  to  have  a  fresh  supply  continually 
from  above,  or  his  life  will  be  at  very  low  ebb. 

Missionaries  in  foreign-mission  lands  speak 
much  of  the  peculiar,  deadening,  moral  atmos- 
phere there.  There  is  a  strange  sense  of  de- 
pression in  it.  They  always  plan  to  have  their 
children  brought  home  at  an  early  age  that  they 
may  be  brought  up  through  the  tender,  impres- 
sionable years  in  a  land  where  Christian  stand- 
ards of  life  are  recognized. 

There  is  no  language  strong  enough  to  put  this 
truth,  that  we  must,  each  of  us,  whether  here  or 
there,  carry  our  own  atmosphere  with  us,  and  have 
continual  uninterrupted  connection  with  the  upper 


The  Holy  Spirit  223 

air.    And  that  "  must  "  cannot  be  too  strongly 
underscored. 

Blessed  Holy  Spirit,  breath  of  God,  and  breath 
of  my  life,  help  me  to  let  Thee  have  full  sweep 
within  me,  that  so  my  life  may  be  kept  sweet  and 
fuU;  and  so  Jesus  can  get  freely  and  fully  out  of 
me  to  the  great  hungry  crowd. 


PRAYER 

The  Greatest  Doing  Is  Praying. 

At  The  Other  End. 

A  Weekly  Journey  round  the  World. 

Prayer  a  Habit. 

A  Praying  Bent  of  Mind. 

The  Man  Is  the  Prayer. 

Unseen  Changes  Going  On. 


«S 


Prayer 


The  Greatest  Doing  Is  Praying. 

The  greatest  of  all  things  we  can  do  is  to  pray. 

Jesus  lived  a  life  of  prayer.  All  that  He  did 
and  said  grew  out  of  His  prayer.  There  is  no  waj 
of  knowing  exactly  how  far  it  was  so.  But  the 
more  I  study  His  life  the  stronger  grows  the  im- 
pression that  His  teaching  and  activity,  which 
form  the  greater  part  of  these  Gospel  pages,  were 
actually  less  than  His  praying.  He  seems  to  hare 
put  prayer  first.  All  the  rest  was  an  outgrowth 
of  it.  He  was  on  a  world-winning  errand.  And 
this  was  what  He  thought  of  prayer.  TJte  em- 
phasis of  Jcsus^  personal  habit  was  laid  upon 
prayer. 

The  Holy  Spirit  is  a  prayer-spirit.  He  is  the 
Master-Intercessor.  He  breathes  into  us  the 
spirit  of  prayer,  and  makes  it  glow  into  a  passion. 
He  teaches  us  how  to  pray.  It  is  a  lifelong 
teaching.  You  who  are  teachers  know  that  pa- 
tience and  skill  are  more  in  a  good  teacher  thaa 
the  knowledge  taught.  With  greatest  skill,  and 
loving,  tactful  patience  the  Spirit  teaches  us  to 
pray. 

And  then  He  does  more:  He  uses  each  of  us  as 
227 


228   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

His  praying-room,  praying  in  us  with  yearnings 
beyond  utterance  the  prayer  to  which  we  have 
not  yet  reached  up,  but  which  needs  to  be  prayed 
down  on  the  earth.  All  the  power  needed  in  this 
great  winning  work  is  in  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
comes  from  Him.  And  the  chief  thing  He  empha- 
sizes is  prayer. 

The  greatest  thing  each  one  of  us  can  do  is  to 
pray.  If  we  can  go  personally  to  some  distant 
land,  still  we  have  gone  to  only  one  place.  But 
our  field  is  the  world.  It  is  impossible  for  us  to 
reach  our  whole  field  personally.  But  it  can  be 
reached,  and  reached  effectually,  by  prayer. 
The  place  where  you  and  I  are  sent,  whether  at 
home  or  abroad,  is  simply  our  base  of  action.  It 
is  our  field  for  personal  touch.  And  that  means 
very  much.  But  it  is  more  than  that.  It  is  only 
a  small  part  of  our  field  of  activity.  It  is  most 
significant  as  our  base  of  action,  from  which  we 
send  out  our  secret  messengers  of  prayer  to  all 
parts  of  the  field. 

And  then,  in  the  particular  town  or  city  or 
country  district  to  which  we  have  been  sent,  or 
in  which  we  are  being  kept,  the  prayer  properly 
comes  before  the  personal  activity.  And  it  runs 
along  side  by  side  with  the  activity,  and  follows 
along  after.  We  give  the  personal  touch  which 
must  be  given,  and  which  may  be  so  marvellous  in 
power,  but  there's  something  even  there  greater 
than  the  great  personal  touch;  and  that  is  the 
power  of  prayer. 

It  is  through  the  prayer  that  the  personal  pres- 


Prayer  229 

ence  means  most.  That  personal  presence  may 
become  a  positive  hindrance.  It  may  be  a  drag 
upon  the  work.  It  often  is  just  that  for  lack  of 
prayer.  For  the  real  sweetness  and  efficiency  of 
personal  service  out  among  men  is  in  secret  prayer. 
■  And  if  we  give  money,  it  needs  even  more  the 
prayer  to  go  with  it.  Money  seems  almost  al- 
mighty. As  a  winning  force,  of  course,  it  must  be 
reckoned  far  less  than  personal  service.  For  it  is 
less.  It  gets  its  almost  omnipotence  from  human 
hands.  If  the  personal  touch  depends  for  its  sub- 
tle power  on  prayer,  how  much  more  does  money ! 
Money  given  to  missions,  unaccompanied  by 
prayer,  can  no  doubt  be  made  to  do  great  good. 
But  it  is  a  very  pauper  in  its  poverty  alongside 
the  bit  of  money  that  is  charged  with  the  spirit- 
current  of  prayer. 

At  the  Other  End, 


One  day  I  ran  across  a  party  of  about  twenty 
Pittsburg  men  on  their  way  to  a  men's  Christian 
convention  in  Cincinnati.  There  were  a  few 
ministers  in  the  party,  but  it  was  made  up  chiefly 
of  business  men,  typical,  keen,  alert  American 
business  men.  We  got  together  and  talked  about 
things  of  common  interest. 

And  this  question  was  asked:  Does  prayer  do 
things  ?  Then  the  question  was  spread  out  some. 
I  go  into  my  room  at  night  to  retire.  I  read  a  bit 
from  the  Book,  and  kneel  to  pray.  I  pray  for  a 
man  in  Pittsburg  or  in  Hang-chow,  China. 
Does  anything  take  place  in  Pittsburg  or  in  Hang- 


230  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

chow  that  wouldn't  have  taken  place  if  I  hadn't 
prayed?  Of  course,  the  praying  does  me  good. 
The  very  bending  of  knee  and  head  before  God, 
the  good  wishes  in  my  heart  going  out  to  some 
one  else — these  influence  me.  I  rise  better  for 
both. 

But  is  that  all?  Does  anything  happen  cU  the 
other  end?  Does  my  prayer  do  anything  in  Hang- 
chow  ?  If  I  write  a  business  letter  to  Hang-chow, 
enclosing  a  foreign  draft,  the  letter  does  some- 
thing. A  vast  amount  of  business  is  carried  on 
that  way.  Would  the  prayer  as  really  do  some- 
thing as  the  letter  and  the  draft  ? 

There  was  a  good  bit  of  talk  back  and  forth, 
and  questions  asked.  It  was  interesting  to  find 
these  men  were  ready  to  admit  that  they  really 
believed  that  something  would  occur  at  the  other 
end.  They  belonged  to  a  church  noted  for  its 
sound  teaching,  and  came  from  the  orthodox 
church  city  of  Pittsburg.  The  matter-of-fact 
power  of  prayer  to  do  business  "at  the  other  end" 
seemed  to  appeal  to  these  business  men.  Ap- 
parendy  they  had  not  been  looking  at  prayer  that 
way.  But  they  readily  admitted  that  it  must  be  so. 
Then  the  next  question  asked  itself:  How  much 
of  this  foreign  business  are  we  doing?  And  so 
the  little  crowd  talked  along  while  the  train 
pounded  the  rails  at  the  rate  of  forty-odd  miles  an 
hour. 

Prayer  does  do  things.  Something  happens  at 
the  other  end  that  wouldn't  happen  if  the  prayer 
were  not  made.    The  banker  can  touch  London 


Prayer  231 

and  Paris  and  Shanghai  and  Calcutta  and  Tokyo, 
without  moving  from  the  desk  where  he  is  dictating 
letters,  with  his  correspondence  spread  out  before 
him.  The  praying  man  can  as  really  touch  these 
cities  as  he  kneels  in  his  room,  with  map  and 
Book  spread  out  before  him. 

Things  are  changed  out  there  that  need  chang- 
ing. That  banker  does  business,  too,  in  his  home 
city  and  out  in  the  home-land.  But  many  times, 
with  many  a  house,  the  bulk  of  foreign  business 
is  in  excess  of  that  done  at  home.  Now  we  want 
to  do  a  large  business  abroad  in  soul-winning 
and  in  world-winning,  as  well  as  at  home. 

A  Weekly  Journey  round  the  World. 

I  use  that  word  "business"  in  this  connection 
thoughtfully  and  reverently.  I  know  there  is  a 
sacredness,  a  hallowedness  about  prayer  that 
never  or  rarely  enters  into  business  matters.  We 
keep  the  two  things  apart  in  our  thoughts;  reck- 
oning the  one  a  common  thing,  and  the  other  a 
holy  thing.  And  I  would  increase,  if  I  could, 
that  sense  of  reverence  in  prayer.  But  there  is  a 
great  advantage  in  using  the  familiar  language 
of  business  in  thinking  of  the  results  of  our 
praying. 

Prayer  is  doing  business  for  God.  It  gives  a 
practicality,  a  something-you-can-touch-and-feel 
feeling  to  think  in  that  way.  Shall  we  not  make 
plans  at  once  to  increase  our  foreign  correspond- 
ence? 

You  can  have  a  simple  schedule  or  memoran- 


232  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

dum  to  guide  your  praying.  I  do  not  mean  a 
slavish  hard-and-fast  system,  or  set  of  rules, 
set  down  to  be  followed,  with  a  feeling  that  you 
have  been  untrue  if  you  forget.  Nothing  of  that 
sort  at  all.  But  merely  a  simple  something  to 
glance  at  each  day,  and  so  serve  as  a  reminder 
to  guide  your  thoughts. 

A  little  memorandum  can  be  made  running 
through  the  days  of  the  week.  It  can  be  so 
planned  as  to  run  around  the  world  during  the 
week.  The  httle  schedule  which  I  use  is  divided 
into  the  days  of  the  week,  Sunday  to  Saturday. 
There  is  a  daily  page  containing  notes,  catch- 
words, about  personal  affairs,  and  home,  and 
friends,  and  church,  and  appointments,  and 
such  items.  Then  each  day  of  the  week  has  a 
page,  and  on  it  is  marked  home-land  items  and 
foreign  items. 

In  marking  out  the  weekly  world  journey  I  had 
to  begin  somewhere.  The  Master  told  the  dis- 
ciples to  begin  at  Jerusalem  and  work  out.  So  I 
followed  that  rule,  and  Sunday  is  marked  Turkey 
and  the  lands  grouped  with  it,  Arabia  and  Persia. 
The  memorandum  moves  east,  following  the  com- 
pass-line of  greatest  need.  Monday  is  India 
day,  including  Ceylon  and  the  lands  and  islands 
lying  adjacent.  Tuesday  is  China  day;  Wednes- 
day, Japan,  the  island  kingdom;  and  the  island 
world  of  the  Pacific. 

This  brings  me  across  the  Pacific,  and  so 
Thursday  is  marked  South  America,  including 
Central  America  and  Mexico.     The  easterly  line 


Prayer  233 

takes  me  across  the  Atlantic  again  to  Africa  on 
Friday.  Saturday  takes  an  upward  turn  to  the 
papal  lands  of  Europe,  and  to  Russia,  completing 
the  world- journey  for  that  week.  The  matters 
for  prayer  here  in  the  home-land  are  noted 
through  the  days  of  the  week  in  the  same  way. 
Each  page  has  certain  home  and  certain  foreign 
items. 

A  little  prayer-book  of  that  sort  grows  under 
constant  use.  Your  reading  of  missionary  news 
leads  to  the  making  of  fresh  notes.  Names  of 
persons  are  added,  and  dates  of  coming  con- 
ferences, and  so  on,  and  verses  of  Scripture  that 
stand  out  in  the  daily  reading.  So  the  book 
becomes  to  you  a  very  precious  little  batch  of 
leaves,  lying  inside  the  precious  Book  of  God. 

It  should  be  accompanied  by  a  map  of  the  world. 
For  a  good  while  I  used  the  one  which  was  in- 
serted in  one  of  Dr.  A.  T.  Pierson's  mission 
books.  That  copy  has  long  since  been  replaced 
by  others,  larger,  giving  more  information.  It  is 
an  immense  help  to  glance  at  the  map  daily,  and 
look  at  the  part  marked  for  the  day.  The  lands 
get  fixed  in  mind  in  that  way  without  special  effort. 
Gradually  they  stand  out  more  and  more  clearly, 
and  come  to  be  very  real  to  you. 

That  map  may  become  dear  to  you,  for  it 
suggests  the  field  that  you  are  influencing.  It 
is  your  prayer  sailing-chart.  It  becomes  fragrant 
with  memories.  Experiences  you  have  had  alone 
with  God  over  His  Word,  and  over  this  map  of 
His  World,  come  back  to  refresh  and  sweeten. 


234  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 


Prayer  A   Habit, 

There's  a  little  sentence  of  Paul's  that  used  to 
puzzle  and  bother  me,  "Pray  without  ceasing." 
But  it  has  become  a  great  help  to  me.  It  puzzled 
me  because  I  didn't  see  any  practical  way  of  doing 
it.  It  didn't  seem  to  mean  the  repetition  of 
prayers,  with  little  mechanical  helps,  such  as 
some  use.  It  surely  doesn't  mean  staying  on 
your  knees  a  long  time.  But,  as  I  tried  to  pray 
my  way  into  its  meaning,  it  came  to  mean  four 
distinct  things  to  me.  And  I  would  not  be  sur- 
prised to  find  more  yet  coming  out  of  it. 

First  of  all,  it  means  that  prayer  should  be  a 
habit.  There  should  be  a  fixed  time  every  day, 
or  times,  for  going  off  alone  to  pray.  Into  that 
time  the  Book  is  taken.  Quiet  time  is  spent  in 
reading  it.  For  this  is  listening  to  God.  And 
that  comes  first  in  praying;  listening  first,  then 
speaking.  The  reading  may  be  rapid  and  broad, 
or  slower  and  more  meditative.  Whichever  it  may 
be,  there  should  be  a  cultivation  of  the  habit  of 
meditation. 

I  do  not  mean  a  sleepy  trying  to  imitate  what  we 
suppose  some  holy  men  do.  But  a  keen  think- 
ing into  the  meaning  of  the  words,  and  into  their 
practical  use  in  one's  own  life.  Then  the  pray- 
ing itself.  The  being  still  before  God,  and  the 
definite  prayer  for  particular  things,  and  persons, 
and  places.  That  habit  can  be  fixed  until  it  be- 
comes second  nature.  It  can  be  cultivated  until 
it  becomes  the  sweet  spot  of  the  day  to  you. 


Prayer  235 

A  Praying  Bent  of  Mind. 

Then  while  the  daily  habit  continues  prayer 
may  become  an  attitude,  a  hent  of  mind.  What- 
ever comes  up  suggests  prayer  to  you.  The  bent 
of  your  mind  is  to  pray  as  things  come  up  in  the 
daily  round.  You  can't  stop  your  work,  but 
you  think  prayers.  Your  heart  prays  while  your 
hands  are  busy. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  school  in  which  I  learned 
to  pray  this  way.  A  case  of  protracted  illness  in 
my  home  required  my  personal  attention  con- 
stantly for  a  time.  It  seemed  as  if  no  assistance 
I  could  get  meant  quite  as  much  as  what  I  could 
do  personally.  The  life  in  peril  was  so  precious 
that  all  else  dropped  out  of  sight.  My  habits  of 
life  were  completely  broken  up.  I  was  up  night 
and  day.  The  early  morning  hour  of  reading 
and  prayer  was  broken  into,  with  everything  else 
of  a  regular  sort. 

But  as  I  went  about  my  round  of  serxice  I 
found  myself  praying  constandy.  I  was  much 
wearied,  and  things  sometimes  seemed  desperate. 
I  realized  how  everything  depended  on  God's 
touch.  And  without  any  planning  a  habit  of 
continual  praying  formed  itself.  I  could  be  en- 
gaged in  conversation,  thinking  intently  into 
something  needing  great  care,  and  yet  there  was 
an  undercurrent  of  prayer  constantly.  I  shall 
never  cease  to  be  grateful  for  that  trying  ex- 
perience, because  in  it  this  new  habit  of  a  pray- 
ing bent  of  mind  formed  itself. 


236  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

Do  you  not  know  how  as  you  go  about  your  or- 
dinary round  there  is  a  constant  undercurrent  of 
thought?  You  may  be  talking,  or  reading,  or 
writing,  or  doing  something  more  mechanical, 
and  yet  this  underneath  train  of  thought  is  run- 
ning along  apparently  of  its  own  accord,  regard- 
less of  you.  It  is  broken  at  times,  or  you  lose 
consciousness  of  it,  as  your  work  requires  closer 
attention.  When  you  swing  into  the  habitual 
things  that  you  have  done  over  and  over  again 
until  they  almost  do  themselves,  it  reasserts 
itself. 

I  remember  years  ago,  in  a  banking-house 
where  I  served  for  a  time,  I  had  long  additions  to 
make.  Sometimes  the  rows  of  figures  to  be  added 
up  were  a  foot  in  length.  And  I  got  so  used  to 
adding  that  '^ften  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  my 
thoughts  haa  been  far  away,  completely  taken  up 
with  something  else,  while  I  had  been  adding  the 
figures.  And  fearing  that  I  had  been  slighting 
my  work,  I  would  go  back  carefully  all  over  the 
figures,  only  to  find  the  footings  correct.  The 
adding  habit  had  become  fixed,  and  left  the  un- 
dercurrent of  my  thought  free. 

That  current  is  apt  to  reveal  the  heart's  pur- 
pose or  set  of  mind.  Whatever  you  are  most 
set  upon,  whatever  your  favorite  fads  or  hobbies 
or  inclinations  or  moods  are,  they  are  apt  to  ap- 
pear in  that  involuntary  train  of  thinking.  Now 
this  can  be  cultivated.  It  can  be  cultivated  chiefly 
by  the  cultivation  of  the  controlling  purpose  of 
your  life,  and  then  by  trying  to  give  directions  to 


Prayer  237 

the  undercurrent,  and  holding  it  to  that  direction. 
If  Jesus  has  gripped  your  heart  the  purpose  of  the 
life  will  be  for  Him.  And  if  you  have  come  to 
realize  the  tremendous  power  of  prayer,  this 
undercurrent  of  thought  can  be  made  a  prayer- 
current. 

I  do  not  mean  by  any  forced  or  artificial  hold- 
ing of  one's  self  to  such  a  current  by  dint  of  main 
force,  and  then  mentally  whipping  yourself  if  you 
have  forgotten.  The  power  of  all  action  lies  in 
its  being  perfectly  free  and  natural.  You  can 
cultivate  the  Jesus-passion,  and  the  life-purpose, 
and  the  prayer-habit,  and  all  of  this  will  be  a 
training  of  that  undercurrent  of  thought  toward 
prayer. 

The  shipping  clerk,  as  he  heads  up  his  barrels 
and  boxes,  can  be  sending  out  and  up  his  current 
of  prayer.  At  intervals  he  is  thinking  closely 
about  something  connected  with  his  work.  Then 
his  thoughts  free  themselves.  As  he  hammers  in 
the  nails,  his  thought  says,  "  This  is  China  day." 
Each  ringing  blow  of  the  hammer  rings  out  "This 
is  China  day: — Thy  blessing,  Master,  to-day 
upon  the  missionaries  in  Hang-chow; — upon  Mr. 
Blank  out  there; — victory  in  Jesus'  name  to-day; 
— the  physician  missionaries,  the  nurses; — ^Thy 
power  upon  them; — help  the  native  workers." 

The  picture  of  his  little  prayer  memorandum 
comes  up  before  his  mind's  eye.  The  map  of 
China  stands  out  more  or  less  distinctly,  accord- 
ing to  how  long  he  may  have  been  practising  look- 
ing at  it  in  his  prayer-hour.     His  mind  runs  of  it- 


238   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

self  from  one  point  to  another.  And  so,  all  the 
while,  his  undercurrent  of  praying  goes  on.  It  is 
broken  into  by  newer  or  more  exacting  duties; 
then  free  again,  and  swinging  more  or  less  to  the 
thing  his  heart  is  set  upon.  It  becomes  a  per- 
fectly free,  natural  thing  with  him.  This  is 
part  of  the  meaning  of  "  Pray  without  ceasing." 

The  Man  is  the  Prayer. 

Then  prayer  is  a  life.  The  life  is  what  you 
are  in  yourself.  It  is  not  the  mere  span  of  years 
you  live  through.  Your  thoughts  and  loves, 
your  heart's  ambitions  and  gripping  purposes, 
the  things  you  will  to  do,  and  to  be — that  is  your 
life.  That  exerts  an  enormous  influence  upon  the 
circle  in  which  you  live,  and  upon  the  world. 

If  underneath  all  else  that  driving  purpose, 
that  warm,  intense  love-power,  that  yearning  de- 
sire, is  God  ward,  and  manward,  and  world- 
ward,  that  becomes  a  prayer,  a  continual  prayer. 
You  are  not  thinking  of  it  that  way.  But  that  is 
your  life,  and  that  life  is  a  prayer.  Its  influence 
against  the  evil  one  and  for  God  is  enormous. 

That  is  a  prayer  unceasing,  as  long  and  as  strong 
as  your  life  itself.  Satan  fears  it.  It  hinders 
him  and  thwarts  him  every  day.  The  fragrant 
incense  from  the  censer  of  your  life  rises  up  before 
the  throne  of  God  continually,  and  affects  the 
events  on  the  earth.* 

And  then  prayer  is  a  person.  That  is  to  say,  yoii 
yourself  may  be  a  prayer,  a  walking  prayer  offered 

*  Revelation  8:  3-5. 


Prayer  239 

up  in  Jesus*  name.  Your  presence  will  affect 
the  evil  one,  and  change  events,  and  help  God  in 
His  plans.  You  may  be  so  allied  with  Jesus  in 
the  simple  gripping  purpose  of  your  heart  that  you 
yourself,  where  you  are,  by  your  mere  presence, 
will  be  recognized  by  evil  spirits,  and  by  the  Master 
Himself  as  a  mighty  power  for  God. 

Your  presence  disturbs  the  e\il  one's  plan.  It 
has  an  influence  upon  those  you  meet.  It  is 
helping  God.  The  whole  effect  of  your  presence  is 
precisely  the  same  as  a  prayer.  You  are  a  prayer 
yourself,  though  unconsciously.  The  whole  trend 
of  your  life  says,  **Thy  Kingdom  come;  Thy 
will  be  done  on  earth  as  in  heaven." 

A  few  years  ago  President  Roosevelt's  daughter 
was  a  member  of  the  Taft  party  that  visited  parts 
of  the  Orient.  She  did  not  go  as  the  President's 
daughter,  of  course.  There  could  be  no  official 
significance  attached  to  her  presence.  We  Amer- 
icans can  understand  better  than  some  others 
that  she  went  simply  as  a  young  woman  eager  to 
see  Japan  and  China,  not  as  the  President's 
daughter. 

But  everywhere  she  went  in  the  Orient  she  was 
treated  not  merely  as  a  member  of  the  party,  but 
as  the  daughter  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States.  Presents  were  made  to  her,  receptions 
tendered,  and  deference  shown,  because  of  her 
personal  relation  to  her  father.  To  the  Orientals 
her  presence  stood  for  the  head  of  our  Govern- 
ment.   They  treated  her  in  relation  to  him. 

Even  so  it  is  with  us  Christians.    The  evil  on^ 


240  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

doesn't  think  of  you  and  me  for  ourselves  simply. 
He  thinks  of  us  in  relation  to  the  Jesus,  who  is 
his  Victor.  We  stand  to  him  down  here  for 
Jesus.  He  fears  us  as  he  fears  Jesus.  That 
is,  he  can  be  made  to  fear  us,  by  our  being  true  to 
our  Lord. 

The  final  purpose  of  prayer  is  to  defeat  Satan 
and  to  bring  about  God's  will.  And  we  do  just 
that  in  our  persons,  by  our  presence;  or  we  may. 
Prayer  is  a  person.  You  are  a  prayer.  The 
man  himself  becomes  a  tremendous  prayer,  off- 
setting evil  influences,  changing  men  and  events, 
and  helping  God  in  His  plans. 

These  last  two,  the  life  and  the  person,  may  be 
caUed  unconscious  prayer.  The  influence  is  con- 
stantly going  out,  though  we  are  not  aware  of  it. 
But  it  is  great  encouragement  to  recall  that  this 
prayer-power  is  going  out  of  us  constantly.  And 
these  two  are  not  limited  to  the  place  where  we  are. 
They  act  as  a  momentum  to  every  wish  we  breathe, 
and  every  spoken  prayer  we  utter,  sending  these 
with  renewed  force  out  to  the  place  involved. 
Spirit  influence  does  not  know  anything  about 
the  limitations  of  distance. 

Unseen  Changes  Going  On, 

All  this  praying  makes  a  difference  at  the  other 
end,  the  place  toward  which  it  is  directed.  Things 
in  Tokyo  are  made  different.  The  copy  of  a 
Gospel  that  some  native  in  India  is  reading  be- 
comes a  plainer  book  to  him  because  of  this  pray- 
ing.   Your  prayer  is  a  spirit-force  travelling  in- 


Prayer  24 1 

stantly  through  the  distance  between  you  and  the 
place  you  are  praying  for.  And  things  occur  that 
otherwise  would  not. 

Opposition  lessens.  Difficulties  give  way.  The 
road  some  man  is  travelling  clears  and  brightens. 
The  truth  on  the  printed  page  stands  out  in 
bigger  letters.  The  health  renews.  The  sick- 
ness or  weakness  gives  way  to  a  new  health  and 
strength.  The  judgment  steers  a  straight  course. 
The  purpose  holds  its  anchor  steady.  The  man 
rides  the  rough  seas  of  temptation  safely. 

Things  are  happening.  And  they  are  happen- 
ing because  some  scarcely  noticed  young  fellow 
hammering  a  barrel-head  and  marking  the  ship- 
ping directions,  and  some  typewriter  chopping  her 
machine,  are  praying  in  the  quiet  time,  and  are 
praying  softly  in  the  undercurrent  of  their  scarcely 
thought-out  thoughts. 

"  Oh,  if  our  ears  were  opened 

To  hear  as  angels  do 
The  Intercession-chorus 

Arising  full  and  true. 
We  should  hear  it  soft  up-welling 

In  morning's  pearly  light; 
Through  evening's  shadows  swelling 

In  grandly  gathering  might; 
The  sultry  silence  filling 

Of  noontide's  thunderous  blow, 
And  the  solemn  starlight  thrilling 

With  ever-deepening  flow. 

"We  should  hear  it  through  the  rushing 
Of  the  city's  restless  roar, 
16 


242  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

And  trace  its  gentle  gushing 

O'er  ocean's  crystal  floor; 
We  should  hear  it  far  up-floating 

Beneath  the  Orient  moon, 
And  catch  the  golden  noting 

From  the  busy  Western  noon; 
And  pine-robed  heights  would  echo 

As  the  mystic  chant  up-floats, 
And  the  sunny  plain  resounds  again 

With  the  myriad  mingling  notes. 

"There  are  hands  too  often  weary 

With  the  business  of  the  day, 
With  God-entrusted  duties, 

Who  are  toiling  while  they  pray. 
They  bear  the  golden  vials, 

And  the  golden  harps  of  praise. 
Through  all  the  daily  trials, 

Through  all  the  dusty  ways. 
These  hands,  so  tired,  so  jaithjtdy 

With  odors  sweet  are  filled. 
And  in  the  ministry  of  prayer 

Are  wonderfully  skilled. 

"There  are  noble  Christian  workers^ 

The  men  of  faith  and  power, 
The  overcoming  wrestlers 

Of  many  a  midnight  hour; 
Prevailing  princes  with  their  God, 

Who  will  not  be  denied. 
Who  bring  down  showers  of  blessing 

To  swell  the  rising  tide. 
The  Prince  of  Darkness  quaileth 

At  their  triumphant  way, 
Their  fervent  prayer  availelh 

To  sap  his  subtle  sway. 

"And  evermore  the  Father 
Sends  radiantly  down 


Prayer  243 

All-marvellous  responses, 

His  ministers  to  crown; 
The  incense  cloud  returning 

As  golden  blessing-showers, 
We  in  each  drop  discerning 

Some  feeble  prayer  of  ours, 
Transmuted  into  wealth  unpriced, 

Bj  Him  who  giveth  thus 
The  glory  all  to  Jesus  Christ, 

The  gladness  all  to  us! "  * 

*  Frances  Ridley  HavcrgaL 


MONEY 

Limitations. 

The  Best  Partnership. 

Jesus'  Teaching. 

Be  Your  Own  Executor. 

Missing  the  Master's  Meaning. 

Money  Talks. 

Debts. 

Rusty  Money. 

Are  We  True  to  Our  Friend's  Trust? 


Money 


Limitations, 


Money  seems  almost  almighty  in  its  power  to  do 
things,  and  make  changes.  It  can  make  a  desert 
blossom  as  a  rose.  It  can  even  defy  death.  Med- 
ical skill  holds  the  life  here  that  otherwise  would 
have  been  snuffed  out.  Great  buildings  go  up. 
Colleges  begin  their  life  with  apparatus  and 
books,  skilled  instructors,  and  eager  students. 
Mammoth  enterprises  spring  into  being.  Hos- 
pitals and  churches  rise  up  with  skilled  attendants 
and  talented  preachers. 

We  have  come,  in  our  day,  and  perhaps  pecu- 
liarly in  our  country,  to  think  that  there  is  no  limit 
to  the  power  of  money.  Our  ideas  of  its  value 
are  really  greatly  exaggerated.  That  first  sentence 
I  used  would  be  revised  by  many  to  read, "  Money 
is  almighty."  The  cautious  words  "seems"  and 
"almost"  would  be  promptly  cut  out. 

Yet  money  has  great  limitations.  It  will  help 
greatly  to  remember  what  they  are.  And  many 
of  us  need  the  brain-clearing  of  that  help.  Of 
itself  money  is  utterly  useless,  so  much  dead- 
weight stuff  lying  useless  and  helpless.  It  must 
have  human  hands  to  make  it  valuable.  It  gets 
247 


248   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

its  value  from  our  conception  of  its  value  and 
from  our  use  of  it.  It  must  have  a  human  partner 
to  be  of  any  service  at  all. 

In  bad  hands  it  becomes  devilish  in  its  badness. 
And  I  needn't  put  an  "almost"  in  that  sentence. 
It  may  be  as  a  very  demon,  or  as  the  arch-devil 
himself,  as  really  as  it  may  seem  to  be  divine  in  its 
creative  and  changing  power. 

Then  it  is  valuable  only  in  this  world,  on  the 
earth.  At  the  line  of  death  its  value  wholly  ceases. 
Over  that  Hne  it  takes  its  place  as  a  pauper.  It  is 
represented  as  being  used  for  cobble  stones  in  the 
streets  of  the  new  Jerusalem.  Yet  it  would  need 
to  go  through  some  hardening  process  to  make 
it  of  any  account  at  all  as  paving  material. 

We  ought  to  remind  ourselves  of  something  else, 
too,  that  the  crowd  constantly  forgets,  and  that 
we  are  tempted  to  forget  when  touched  by  the 
contagion  of  the  crowd.  And  that  is,  that  money 
is  always  less  in  its  power  than  a  strong,  sweet, 
pure  life.  Maybe  you  think  that  comparison 
can't  properly  be  made.  You  say  that  things 
so  unlike  can't  be  compared.  But,  whether  con- 
sciously or  intentionally  or  otherwise,  that  com- 
parison is  being  made  constantly  in  practical 
life,  and  most  times  to  the  advantage  of  money. 
Commonly  the  crowd  reckons  money  more  than 
character. 

We  do  weU  to  remind  ourselves  that  its  in- 
fluence for  good  is  always  distinctly  less  than 
that  of  a  life.  To  live  a  Hfe  pure  and  strong  and 
wholesome  in  its  ideals  out  among  men  is  more 


Money  249 

than  to  be  able  to  give  money  in  any  amount. 
To  keep  one's  life  up  to  such  ideals  in  the  heart- 
less drive  and  competition  of  modern  life  means 
more  than  to  extract  large  quantities  of  gold  out 
of  the  mine  of  barter  and  trade,  and  to  give  some 
of  it  away. 

And  money  is  less  than  personal  service. 
Great  deference  is  paid  to  checks  and  subscrip- 
tions. The  man  who  can  draw  a  large  check 
for  some  good  object,  and  who  may  by  dint  of 
much  dexterous  handling  be  induced  to  write  his 
name  under  some  large  figure,  is  treated  with  awe. 
But  there's  another  man  who  stands  higher  up  in 
the  scale,  and  to  whom  hats  should  go  farther  off 
and  more  quickly.  That  is  the  strong  man  who 
gives  personal  service.  There  may  be  a  blessed 
partnership  between  the  man  of  money  and  the 
man  of  service.  There  often  is.  But  he  is  an 
unfortunate  man,  to  be  pitied,  who  lets  anything 
else  crowd  out  of  his  life  the  privilege  of  giving 
some  of  his  self  out  in  personal  service  for  others. 
These  are  some  of  gold's  limitations. 

The  Best  Partnership. 

Give  money  good  partners,  and  there  is  no  end 
to  what  it  can  do.  Let  prayer  and  sacrifice  and 
money  form  a  life-partnership,  and  that  first 
sentence  can  be  revised,  and  greatly  strengthened 
by  the  revision:  Money  is  almost  almighty.  It 
gets  all  the  good  qualities  of  its  partners  as  long  as 
it  stays  in  the  partnership,  on  good  working  terms. 

It  isn't  the  head  of  the  firm,  however.     Prayer 


250  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

belongs  in  that  place.  It  must  direct.  It  is  the 
prayer's  touch  with  God  that  hallows  the  gold 
and  gives  to  it  some  of  God's  omnipotence. 
Money  is  the  working  partner,  best  when  hard  at 
work,  and  famous  for  the  amount  of  work  it  can  do 
in  obeying  orders  from  the  head  of  the  house. 

It  gives  a  strange  sense  of  awe  to  realize  that 
the  bit  of  money  you  hold  in  your  hand  can  be  used 
to  change  a  life,  aye,  more,  to  change  many  lives. 
That  money  is  yours  to  control.  It  came  to  you 
in  exchange  for  your  labor  or  your  skill.  It  is 
yours,  for  the  sweat  of  your  brow  or  your  brain  is 
upon  it.  And  now  it  can  be  sent  out,  and  the 
result  will  be  a  life  utterly  changed,  purified,  and 
redeemed. 

Through  your  partnership  the  money  produces 
something  greater  than  itself.  And  that  changed 
life  becomes  the  centre  of  a  new  power,  changing 
other  lives  out  to  the  far  rim  of  an  ever-widening 
circle.  It  may  have  cost  you  much.  Some  of 
your  very  life  has  gone  out  in  the  work  that  brought 
into  your  hands  that  bit  of  gold.  It  is  red  with 
your  blood.  And  now,  if  you  choose,  it  can  be 
sent  out  and  made  to  bring  new  life  in  to  some 
one  else.  Life  has  gone  from  you  in  getting  it, 
and  life  will  come  to  another  in  your  giving  it  out, 
under  the  blessed  Master's  transmuting  touch. 

Jesus*  Teaching, 


Jesus'  teaching  about  money  is  startling.  I 
mean  that  it  stands  in  such  utter  contrast  to  the 
commonly  accepted  standards  out  in  the  world,  and 


Money  251 

inside  in  the  Church,  that  the  contrast  startles  one 
sharply. 

There  are  four  passages  in  which  His  money 
teachings  group,  largely.  There's  the  "  Lay-not-up 
for-yourselves-treasure-upon-the-earth'^  bit  in  the 
sermon  on  the  Mount;  ^  with  the  still  stronger 
phrase  in  the  Luke  parallel,  "  Sell  that  ye  have, 
and  give."  ^  There  is  the  incident  of  the  earnest 
young  man  who  was  rich;^  the  parable  of  the 
wealthy  farmer  in  Luke,  twelfth  chapter;*  and 
the  whole  sixteenth  chapter  of  Luke,  with  that 
great  ninth  verse,  whose  full  meaning  has  been  so 
little  grasped.  The  truth  taught  in  each  of  these 
is  practically  the  same  thing. 

The  Master  is  evidently  talking  about  what  a 
man  has  over  and  above  his  personal  and  family 
needs.  It's  a  law  of  life,  from  Eden  on,  that  a 
man  should  work  to  supply  his  daily  needs  and 
the  needs  of  those  dependent  upon  him.  Just 
how  much  that  word  "needs"  means  each  man 
settles  for  himself.  It  means  different  things  at 
different  times  to  the  same  man. 

It  is  surprising  how  little  it  can  be  made  to 
mean  when  the  pinch  comes,  and  yet  a  man  have 
all  actual  necessities  supplied.  The  man  who 
would  have  his  life  count  for  most  for  the  Master, 
and  the  Master's  plan,  thinks  over  that  word  pray- 
erfully and  sensibly  with  full  regard  to  personal 
strength,  and  loved  ones,  and  the  future.    What- 

»  Matthew  6:19-21.  >Luke  12:33,  34- 

•Matthew  19: 16-29.    Mark  10: 17-31.    Luke  18: 18-30. 
•Luke  12:13-21. 


252    Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

ever  it  may  be  made  to  mean,  this  teaching  is  plain- 
ly about  what  is  left  over  after  the  needs  are  met. 

Now,  about  that  left-over  amount  the  Master 
gives  three  easily  understood  rules,  or  bits  of  ad- 
vice, or  commands.  First :  Don't  treasure  it  up  for 
the  sake  of  having  it.  If  you  do  it  is  in  danger, 
and  you  are  in  danger.  It  may  be  stolen.  Every 
vault,  and  safe,  and  safety-deposit  company,  and 
lock,  and  key  backs  up  that  statement.  Or  it 
may  be  lost  through  rust  or  moths,  the  two  things 
that  threaten  all  inactivity.  The  stuff  that  isn't 
in  use  wears  away.  The  wear  of  use  can't  com- 
pare with  the  wear  of  disuse  or  neglect. 

Then  you  are  in  danger  of  your  heart  being 
affected.  It  will  be  wherever  your  treasure  is. 
It  may  get  locked  up,  and  so  dried  up  for  lack  of 
air  or  poisoned  by  bad  air.  The  blood  must  have 
fresh  air.  The  heart  must  have  touch  with  men 
to  keep  its  vigor.  It  may  get  all  dried  up  with 
things,  instead  of  keeping  vigorous  by  touch  with 
needy  men.  That's  the  twofold  danger.  That's 
the  first  thing  Jesus  says:  Don't  store  it  up,  down 
here,  in  the  ordinary  way. 

The  second  thing  is  this :  Store  your  surplus  up. 
Be  careful  of  it.  Keep  strict  tally.  Let  the  books 
be  well  kept  and  balanced.  Let  no  thoughtlessness 
nor  carelessness  nor  thriftlessness  get  in.  Store 
it  up.  But  be  careful  where  you  store  it.  Keep 
it  carefully  guarded  against  the  action  of  thieves 
and  moths,  and  against  the  inaction  of  decaying, 
destroying  rust.  That  is  the  second  thing.  Store 
it  up  carefully. 


Money  253 

Be  Your  Own  Executor, 

The  third  thing  is  this:  Store  it  up  by  means  of 
exchange.  Keep  it  safe  by  giving  it  away.  The 
whole  value  of  money  is  in  exchange.  It  must  be 
kept  moving.  But,  but — and  the  whole  heart  of 
the  teaching  is  here — be  very  wary  about  your 
exchanges.  Invest  your  money  in  men^  wherever 
the  need  may  be.  All  that  you  invest  wisely  in 
men  is  stored  up  against  any  violence  or  craftiness 
of  thieves  and  any  corroding  of  rust. 

All  that  is  not  out  in  active  use  directly  among 
men,  for  men,  in  Jesus'  name,  is  in  danger  of 
being  stolen,  or  of  decaying,  or  of  injuring  you,  or 
of  being  left  behind,  utterly  worthless  to  you  when 
you  are  through  down  here.   Be  your  own  executor. 

Some  years  ago  one  of  the  religious  papers  of 
New  York  City  told  of  the  death  of  a  maiden  lady 
named  Elizabeth  Pellit.  Her  home  was  in  the 
hall-room  of  a  tenement-house,  and  at  her  death 
all  her  earthly  possessions  could  be  put  into  one 
common  trunk.  No  executor  or  administrator 
was  needed.  Living  in  narrow  circumstances, 
her  friends  thought  she  had  denied  herself  all 
luxuries  and  even  many  comforts.  But  in  the 
forty  years  of  her  Christian  life  she  had  been  able 
to  give  over  thirty  thousand  dollars  to  missionary 
work.  She  had  supplied  the  money  to  send  out 
and  sustain  one  missionary  in  Salvador,  and  also 
for  another  who  was  to  go  out  soon.  She  seemed 
to  have  grasped  the  meaning  of  the  Master's 
teaching. 


254  Quiet  Talk?  With  World  Winners 

Good  common  sense  comes  in  for  free  play 
here,  both  in  adjusting  one's  personal  and  family 
schedule  and  in  giving.  Giving  may  be  done 
foolishly,  or  not  wisely.  There  is  no  place  where 
there  is  more  room  for  good  sense  in  avoiding 
both  the  extreme  of  unwise  giving  and  the  other 
extreme  of  handicapping  one's  gifts. 

It  is  a  question  of  personal  judgment  how  far  to 
give  money  out  directly  and  how  far  to  invest 
some  of  it  and  use  the  income  wholly  in  gifts. 
You  may  think  that  in  some  directions  you  can 
invest  it  better,  and  direct  the  income  better  than 
some  organization.  That  is  an  important  detail. 
But  the  chief  thing  is  that  the  money  itself  is  dedi- 
cated wholly  for  use  out  among  needy  men. 

Now  you  wiU  please  mark  keenly  that  in  all 
this  I  am  not  talking  about  what  I  think  about 
money.  I  am  simply  putting  into  plain  talk 
Jesus*  own  teaching  about  it,  in  these  four  great 
passages. 

Missing  the  Master^ s  Meaning, 

Christian  men,  generally,  seem  to  have  missed 
the  meaning  of  Jesus'  words.  I  think  it  due 
largely  to  the  lack  of  teaching  in  the  Church  that 
world-evangelizing  is  di  first  obligation. 

Recently  a  fire  destroyed  the  home  of  a  man 
of  large  wealth  who  lives  some  distance  east  of 
San  Francisco.  It  was  a  beautiful  palace,  full 
of  art  treasures.  The  value  of  house  and  fur- 
nishings and  the  art  collection  was  reckoned  at 
about  two   million  dollars.     He  is  a  Christian 


Money  255 

man,  prominently  identified  with  active  Christian 
work,  and  reckoned  a  liberal  giver.  He  has 
visited  foreign-mission  lands,  and  made  special 
gifts  to  missions. 

But  his  gifts  to  missions  seem  like  a  copper 
cent  or  a  silver  quarter  given  to  a  beggar  in  con- 
trast with  the  two  million  dollars  tied  up  for  him- 
self in  the  house  that  burned.  Two  millions 
stored  up  in  a  home,  while  many  millions  of  men 
have  lived  and  died  in  ignorance  of  the  light  and 
peace  that  comes  with  Jesus !  Yet  this  man  calls 
Jesus  his  Master,  and  sincerely,  I  have  no  doubt. 
And  his  Master  said  the  one  great  thing  was  to 
tell  all  men  of  His  love  and  death. 

By  no  extension  of  the  meaning  of  that  word 
"need  "  could  he  be  said  to  need  a  two-million- 
dollar  home  for  himself  and  family.  And  there 
are  other  millions  under  the  same  man's  control. 
It  looks  very  much  as  if  this  good  man  had  missed 
the  meaning  of  Jesus*  words.  The  criticism, 
however,  must  be  first  upon  the  Church  and  its 
leaders,  with  whose  general  trend  of  teaching  this 
man  is  in  accord.  According  to  the  Master's 
teaching,  most  of  the  money  in  his  house,  and 
stored  up  in  other  ways  of  the  sort  for  himself,  is 
being  lost.  Far  more  serious,  the  opportunity  of 
investment  in  men  is  being  lost.  That  money 
will  be  all  loss  to  him  when  he  reaches  the  line  of 
departure  over  into  the  next  sphere  of  life. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  use  such  an  illustration 
from  life.  There  is  danger  that  the  words  will 
soimd  critical  in  a  bad  or  unkind  sense.  I  earnestly 


256  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

pray  to  be  kept  from  that.  You  will  know  that  I 
am  talking  to  myself  first  of  all;  and  speaking  of 
this  only  to  help.  The  bother  is  that  this  man  is 
not  an  exception.  Rather  he  represents  the  habit 
and  standard  of  his  generation. 

I  recall  another  Christian  man  as  I  speak,  of 
large  wealth,  by  inheritance  and  by  dint  of 
business  keenness.  His  face  showed  plainly  his 
fine  Christian  character.  He  gave  liberally  in 
many  directions,  sometimes  very  large  sums. 
But  he  lived  in  a  home  whose  value  ran  close  to  a 
half-million  of  dollars.  When  he  died,  full  of 
years  and  honors,  he  left  many  millions  to  a  son 
who  does  not  inherit  his  father's  generous  hand 
with  his  wealth.  Of  course,  the  son  didn't  need 
the  vast  wealth. 

And  I  wondered,  silently,  within  my  heart,  how 
things  looked  to  that  man,  as  he  shpped  out  of 
life  up  into  the  Master's  presence,  and  looked 
down  on  the  earth  through  the  eyes  of  the  One 
whose  teaching  we  have  been  talking  about.  He 
could  see  China  and  India  and  Africa  then  as 
plainly  as  America. 

How  did  the  lost  opportunity  of  laying  up  his 
treasure  in  the  lives  of  men  look  to  him  then,  I 
wondered.  He  was  a  good  man.  I  saw  him 
smile  once,  and  his  face  seemed  to  shine  as  an 
angel's.  I  think  probably  no  faithful  friend  had 
ever  talked  to  him  of  the  plain  meaning  of  Jesus' 
words,  and  of  world-winning  being  a,  first  obKga- 
tion.  He  hadn't  been  taught  it  from  the  pulpit. 
And  he  hadn't  thought  into  it  himself. 


Money  257 

Money  Talks. 

Many  are  losing  a  great  opportunity  of 
silently  preaching  Jesus  to  their  fellows  by  their 
habit  of  giving.  Two  men  were  discussing  the 
evidences  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  one  was  a 
Christian;  the  other  not,  and  inclined  to  be 
sceptical.  Arguments  were  freely  exchanged. 
At  last  the  sceptic,  who  was  a  blunt,  out-spoken 
man,  said  frankly,  to  his  friend  and  neighbor:  "I 
think  we  might  as  well  drop  this  matter.  For  I 
don't  believe  a  word  you  say.  And,  more  than 
that,  I  am  quite  satisfied  in  my  own  mind  that 
you  do  not  really  believe  it  yourself.  For  to  my 
certain  knowledge  you  have  not  given,  the  last 
twenty  years,  as  much  for  the  spread  of  Christian- 
ity, such  as  the  building  of  churches  and  foreign 
and  domestic  missions,  as  your  last  Durham  cow 
cost.  Why,  sir,  if  I  believed  what  you  say  you 
believe  I'd  make  the  church  my  rule  for  giving, 
my  farm  the  exception." 

That  Christian  man's  life  was  contradicting 
every  word  he  uttered  to  his  neighbor.  Money 
talks.  His  was  talking  very  loudly  to  his  scep- 
tical neighbor.  His  neighbor  was  unusually 
frank  in  saying  out  what  thousands  are  thinking. 
He  had  lost  a  great  opportunity  of  winning  his 
friend. 

Debts.  V 

In  a  simple  litde  senteace  Paul  reveals  how 
thoroughly  he  had  grasped  Jesus'  meaning.    He 
17 


258   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

said,  **I  am  debtor  both  to  Greeks  and  barbarians  " 
— to  all  men.*  Now  that  word,  "debtor,"  com- 
monly means  two  things:  that  you  have  received 
something  of  value  from  some  one,  and  that  there- 
fore you  owe  him  for  what  he  gave  to  you. 

But  Paul  hadn't  gotten  anything  special  from 
the  men  of  whom  he  is  speaking.  His  birth  and 
training  and  whatever  else  he  had  were  Jewish. 
And  the  Jews  were  a  minority  in  the  worid.  He 
was  not  under  the  debtor  obligation  of  having  got- 
ten something  from  the  men  he  is  speaking  of. 

In  his  use  of  that  word,  "debtor'*  means  three 
things:  first,  something  received  from  God,  and 
that  something  everything;  then  something  ow- 
ing to  God;  and  then  that  something  payable  to 
man.  He  counted  himself  in  debt  to  all  men  on 
Jesus'  account.  And  so  are  we.  How  much 
owest  thou  to  thy  Lord?  That's  how  much  you 
are  to  pay  to  men  on  your  Lord's  account. 

'We  are  not  even  our  own,  much  less  our  goods. 
We  were  bought  up  when  we  were  bankrupt.  A 
great  price  was  paid  for  us,  even  the  life-blood  of 
Jesus.  And  our  Owner  bids  us  pay  up  by  paying 
out.  We  are  badly  and  blessedly  in  debt;  badly, 
for  we  can  never  square  the  account;  blessedly, 
because  we  can  be  constantly  paying  on  account, 
out  to  men  in  Jesus'  name. 

"  Over  against  the  Treasury  this  day 

The  Master  silent  sits;  whilst,  unaware 

Of  that  Celestial  Presence  still  and  fair, 

The  people  pass  or  pause  upon  their  way. 

^  Romans  1:14. 


Money  259 

And  some  go  laden  with  His  treasures  sweet, 
And  dressed  in  costly  robes  of  His  device 
To  cover  hearts  of  stone  and  souls  of  ice, 

Which  bear  no  token  to  the  Master's  feet. 

And  some  pass,  gaily  singing,  to  and  fro. 
And  cast  a  careless  gift  before  His  face, 
Amongst  the  treasures  of  the  holy  place, 

But  kneel  to  crave  no  blessing  ere  they  go. 

And  some  are  travel-worn,  their  eyes  are  dim. 
They  touch  His  shining  vesture  as  they  pass. 
But  see  not — even  darkly  through  a  glass — 

How  sweet  might  be  their  trembling  gifts  to  Him. 

And  still  the  hours  roll  on;  serene  and  fair 
The  Master  keeps  his  watch,  but  who  can  tell 
The  thoughts  that  in  His  tender  spirit  swell. 

As  one  by  one  we  pass  him  unaware  ? 

For  this  is  He  who,  on  one  awful  day. 

Cast  down  for  us  a  price  so  vast  and  dread. 
That  He  was  left  for  our  sakes  bare  and  dead. 

Having  given  Himself  our  mighty  debt  to  pay! 

Oh,  shall  unworthy  gifts  once  more  be  thrown 
Into  His  treasury — by  whose  death  we  live  ? 
Or  shall  we  now  embrace  His  cross,  and  give 

Ourselves,  and  all  we  have,  to  him  alone  ?  " 

Is  not  that  the  meaning  of  Paul's  "  Owe  no  man 
anything,  save  to  love  one  another."  *  We  owe  a 
debt  of  love  to  all  men  on  Jesus'  account.  We  can 
be  paying  on  it  continually,  and  yet  never  get  a 
receipt  in  full  that  discharges  the  debt.  But  then 
we  get  other  things  in  full — ^peace,  and  joy,  and  a 
life  overflowing  in  fulness. 

*  Romans  13:8. 


26o  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

With  an  honorable  business  man  a  debt  is  a  first 
obligation.  His  personal  expenditures  and  his 
home  schedule  are  shaped  by  his  debt.  The  extras 
that  he  would  feel  quite  free  in  allowing  himself  and 
his  home  are  not  allowed  imtil  the  debt  is  cleared. 
The  debt  controls  his  spendings  until  it  is  paid  off 
in  full.    That's  reckoned  a  matter  of  honor. 

Rusty  Money. 

James,  the  first  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  had 
caught  the  Lord's  very  language  as  well  as  His 
thought.  He  says,  "Your  gold  and  silver  are 
rusted,  and  their  rust  shall  be  for  a  testimony 
against  you."  *  It  would  seem  as  though  there 
were  quite  a  bit  of  rusty  money  entered  in  Chris- 
tian names  and  controlled  by  Christian  people. 
It  is  lying  in  vaults,  and  lands,  and  savings- 
societies,  and  old  stockings,  gathering  rust. 

It  is  in  sore  need.  It  needs  friction,  the  friction 
of  use.  Without  that  its  real,  rare  value  will  be 
completely  lost.  It  is  furnishing  food  for  moths 
when  it  was  meant  to  be  furnishing  food  for  men, 
bread  of  wheat  and  bread  of  life.  There'll  be 
many  a  striking  scene  when  some  men  come  up 
into  the  Master's  presence  with  loaded  purses, 
"caught  with  the  goods,"  while  millions  of  their 
brothers  are  living  such  pitiable  lives  because  of 
their  ignorance  of  Jesus. 

But  there  are  men  who  do  understand.  And 
their  number  is  increasing.  There  are  those  who 
understand  the  Master^ s  basis  for  conducting  their 

» James  5:2,  3. 


Money  261 

business  matters.  That  basis  is  shrewd,  faithful 
management  of  the  business  itself  as  good  stewards 
of  God;  full,  proper  provision  for  home  and  loved 
ones — ^simple,  but  ample  and  intelligent;  and  then 
all  the  rest  out  in  active  service  for  men  in  Jesus* 
name.  If  that  basis  were  more  largely  under- 
stood and  accepted,  what  wondrous  changes 
would  come;  changes  out  in  the  world,  and  changes 
in  the  home,  and  changes  in  the  home  church. 

Many  men  are  supporting  their  own  representa- 
tives in  the  foreign  field.  Many  a  church  now 
sustains  its  own  missionary  or  missionaries.  The 
ideal  toward  which  the  Church  might  well  aim  is 
that  every  family  should  have  its  own  missionary. 
The  real  unit  of  life  is  the  family.  The  children 
would  then  grow  up  with  the  world-vision  clearly 
and  deeply  marked.  There  are  thousands  of 
families  in  circumstances  that  are  reckoned  mod- 
erate that  could  support  a  missionary  by  plan- 
ning. But  the  relationship  should  be  carefully 
kept  one  of  warm  sympathy  and  prayer,  as  well  as 
one  of  money.  The  reflex  blessing  upon  the 
home  would  be  immeasurable  in  its  sweetness 
and  extent. 

Are  We  True  To  Our  Friend's  Trust  ? 

Jesus  admits  us  into  the  inner  circle  of  friend- 
ship. He  gives  us  the  one  rarest  token  of  friend- 
ship, that  is,  a  task  to  do  for  our  Friend's  sake. 
He  asks  us  to  go  out  to  all  men,  and  tell  them  about 
His  love  and  sacrifice  for  them.  And  He  asks 
that  everything  we  have  be  held  and  used  for 


262   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

this  sacred  friendship  trust.  Are  we  being  true  to 
our  Friend's  trust?  Is  there  more  stored  away 
for  ourselves  than  is  being  sent  out  on  His 
errand  ?  Is  there  any  discoloration  on  our  gold  ? 
Anything  that  looks  like  rust,  a  dull-red  color — ah, 
it  looks  strangely  like  the  color — the  stain — of 
blood. 

Is  Judas  so  lonely,  after  all?  He  coupled  a 
token  of  friendship  with  a  betrayal  of  his  Friend's 
trust.  In  his  heart  he  meant  far  less  than  the  act 
actually  involved.    Is  he  so  much  alone  ? 

"The  latest  years  shall  tremble  hearing  this 
And  burn  for  human  shame  unto  the  end, 
That  one  of  us  betrayed  the  tryst  his  Friend 

Would  keep  with  God.    A  sign  that  none  might 
miss 

He  named — the  pledge  of  love.    The  soul's  abyss, 
Christ  saw,  the  heart  of  night,  the  purse,  the  end; 
Knew  all,  a  Man,  and  knowing  still  could  bend 

With  soul  unpoisoned  to  receive  the  kiss. 

Before  the  multitude  have  I  kist  Thee 

Fresh  come  from  my  blood-barter — thou    but 
come 
From  intercession  for  all  souls — and  me. 

And,  mocking  Love  Divine,  amazed  and  dumb, 
I  learn  Love's  deathlessness,  and  trembling  press 
The  lips  that  kiss  away  my  faithlessness. "  ^ 

» Arthur  Peirce  Vaughn. 


SACRIFICE 


One  Hank  Over  for  the  Candle, 

Sm's  Healing  Shadow. 

The  Underground  Way  Into  Life. 

A  Rare  Harvest. 

The  Fellowship  of  Scars. 

"Won't  You  Save  Me?" 


Sacrifice 


One  Hank  Over  For  the  Candle. 

The  Kght  of  a  common  candle  in  the  window  of  a 
little  cottage  near  the  coast  shone  far  out  over  the 
sea.  It  was  up  north  of  Scotland,  in  one  of  the 
Orkney  Islands.  Near  the  window  sat  a  frail, 
gray-haired  woman  with  cheery,  thoughtful  face. 
She  was  busy  working  at  her  spinning-wheel,  and 
watching  the  candle,  turning  now  and  again  to 
trim  it.  All  night  long  she  sat  at  the  spinning- 
wheel  and  watching  the  candle.  Fishermen  out 
on  the  water,  heading  for  home,  knew  that  light 
could  be  counted  on,  and  came  safely  in,  past  all 
the  dangers  of  their  coast. 

For  more  than  fifty  years  that  woman  tended 
her  Uttle  lighthouse.  When  she  was  a  young 
girl  there  had  been  a  wild  storm,  and  her  father, 
out  in  his  fisherman's  boat,  lost  his  life.  There 
were  no  shore-lights.  His  boat  had  struck  a  huge, 
dangerous  rock  called  Lonely  Rock,  and  been 
wrecked.  The  father's  body  was  found  in  the 
morning  washed  up  on  the  shore.  She  watched  by 
her  father's  body,  as  was  the  habit  of  her  people, 
until  it  was  laid  away.  Then  she  laid  down  on 
her  bed  and  slept  the  day  through.  When  night 
came  she  rose,  Ut  a  candle,  put  it  in  the  window, 
265 


266  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

drew  up  her  spinning-wheel,  and  began  her  night 
vigil  for  the  unknown  out  at  sea. 

All  night  long,  and  all  her  life  long,  her  vigil  of 
love  and  light  continued.  From  youth  to  old  age, 
through  winter  and  summer,  storm  and  calm,  fog 
and  clear,  that  humble  lighthouse  beacon  failed 
not.  Each  night  she  spun  so  many  hanks  of  yam 
for  her  daily  bread,  and  one  hank  aver  for  the 
candle.  She  turned  night  into  day,  reversing  the 
whole  habit  of  her  life,  and  holding  every  other 
thing  subject  to  her  self-imposed  task  of  love. 
And  through  the  years  many  a  fisherman  out  at 
sea,  and  many  an  anxious  woman  watching  by 
hearth  and  crib,  sent  up  heart-felt  thanks  to  God 
for  that  little,  steady  light.  And  many  a  life  was 
saved,  of  which  no  record  could  be  kept. 

That  tells  the  whole  story  of  sacrifice.  A  need, 
nobody  to  meet  it;  the  need  passing  into  an  emer- 
gency; and  that  into  the  tragedy  of  an  unmet 
emergency;  a  heart  sore  torn  to  bleeding  by  the 
tragedy  thrust  bitterly  home;  then  sacrifice,  life- 
long, that  others  might  be  saved  where  her  loved 
one  was  lost,  and  still  others  spared  what  she 
herself  suffered.  And  that  story  has  been  re- 
peated with  endless  variations,  and  is  being  re- 
peated, in  every  land,  on  every  mission-field,  home 
and  foreign,  and  in  almost  every  home  of  all  the 
world. 

Sin^s  Healing  Shadow. 

Sacrifice  has  come  to  be  a  law  of  life. 
Wherever  there  is   sin   there  will  be  a  call  for 


Sacrifice  267 

sacrifice.  For  sin  makes  need,  and  need  intensi- 
fies into  emergency.  And  need  and  emergency 
mean  sacrifice  thrust  upon  some  one  in  peril.  And 
they  call  for  sacrifice,  volunteered  by  some  one, 
who  would  save  the  man  in  peril.  And  wherever 
there  are  true  men  and  women,  as  well  as  need, 
there  will  he  sacrifice. 

And  sin  is  everywhere.  Even  nature  is  full  of 
evidence  of  a  bad  break  in  all  of  its  processes. 
The  finger-marks  of  decay  and  death  are  below 
and  above  and  all  around  in  all  its  domain.  That 
is  sin's  unmistakable  ear-mark.  Man's  mental 
powers,  and  his  loss  of  a  full  knowledge  of  his 
powers,  tell  the  same  story.  And  so  there  is  need. 
Everywhere  you  turn  need's  pathetic  face,  drawn 
and  white,  looks  piteously  into  yours,  pleading 
mutely  for  help. 

And  so  there  is  sacrifice.  Sacrifice  is  sin's 
healing  shadow.  It  follows  sin  at  every  turn, 
binding  up  its  wounds,  pouring  in  the  oil  and  wine 
of  its  own  life,  and  taking  the  hurt  victims  into  its 
own  warm  heart.  Nothing  worth  while  has  ever 
been  done  without  sacrifice.  Every  good  thing 
done  cost  somebody  his  life.  The  life  was  given 
out  with  a  wrench  under  some  sharp  tug.  Or 
it  was  given  in  the  slower,  more  painful,  more 
taxing  way  of  being  lingeringly  given  out  through 
years  of  steadfast  doing  or  enduring. 

Every  man  who  has  done  something  worth 
while  for  others  has  spilled  some  of  his  Ufe-blood 
into  it.  His  work  and  name  may  have  become 
known.     Or  he  may  belong  to  the  larger  number 


268  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

of  blessed  faithfuls  whose  names  are  unknown 
here,  but  treasured  faithfully  above.  Either  way, 
the  tinging  red  of  his  life  is  upon  the  thing  he  did. 
The  nations  that  are  freest  cost  most  in  the  making, 
in  the  lives  of  men.  Every  church,  and  every  mis- 
sion station,  has  had  to  use  red  mortar  as  its  walls 
went  up. 

Every  bit  of  advance  ground  gained  for  liberty 
and  truth  has  been  stained  with  the  Kfe-blood 
of  the  advance-guard.  You  can  depend  upon  it 
that  whatever  you  are  to  do  that  will  really  help 
must  have  a  bit  of  your  own  self,  your  very  life  in 
it.  Immortality  of  action  comes  only  by  the  in- 
fusion of  human  blood. 

Sacrifice  attends  us  faithfully  from  the  cradle  to 
the  body's  last  resting-place.  The  giving  of  one's 
self  for  others  begins  with  the  beginning  of  life, 
and  never  ends  till  life  ends.  Each  of  us  comes 
into  life  through  the  sacrifice  of  the  mother  who 
bore  us.  That  love-service  of  hers  would  not  have 
been  a  sacrifice,  but  only  a  joy,  had  sin's  cramping, 
restricting  atmosphere  not  been  breathed  into  all 
life.  Now,  with  much  pain,  and  great  danger, 
and  sometimes  at  the  cost  of  life,  it  becomes  a 
sacrifice.  Yet  it  is  a  sacrifice  of  great  sweet  joy  to 
her. 

And  that  same  spirit  of  sacrifice  attends  our 
baby  years,  and  childhood  experiences,  and 
school-days,  and  times  of  sickness,  and  our  ma- 
tured years.  The  more  faithfully  those  who 
make  up  your  life-circle  yield  to  the  law  of  sacrifice, 
and  give  of  themselves  out  to  you,  the  finer  and 


Sacrifice  269 

stronger  you  grow  to  be,  and  the  sweeter  life  be- 
comes to  you.  And  every  selfish  shirking  and 
shrinking  back  by  some  one  impoverishes  your 
life  by  so  much. 

A  hush  of  awe  comes  over  one^s  spirit  as  we 
recall  that  even  for  the  Son  of  God  there  was  no 
exception  to  this  law,  as  He  took  His  place  down 
among  human  conditions.  It  was  by  His  own 
blood  that  He  saved  men,  and  saves  men.  It 
was  the  spilling  out  of  His  own  life  that  brings 
such  blessed  newness  of  life  to  us.  His  was  a 
living  sacrifice  through  all  the  years,  and  then 
greatest  when  that  life,  so  long  being  given,  was 
given  clean  out. 

That  sacrifice  of  His  stands  imapproached,  and 
can  never  be  approached  by  any  other.  His  re- 
lation to  sin  was  different  from  that  of  all  other 
men.  He  made  a  sacrifice  for  men  in  a  sense 
that  no  other  can.  Yet,  while  that  is  true,  it  is 
equally  true  that  every  man  who  follows  Him  will 
drink  of  His  cup  of  sacrifice. 

But  it's  a  cup  of  joy  now,  for  His  drinking 
drained  out  all  the  bitter  dregs.  He  asks  us  into 
the  inner  fellowship  of  His  suffering.  The  work 
He  began  isn't  yet  done.  He  asks  our  help. 
We  may  fill  up  the  measure  of  His  sacrifice  yet 
needed,  in  healing  men's  wounds  and  in  throt- 
tling sin's  power. 

The   Underground  Way  Into  Life. 

The  request  of  the  Greek  pilgrims,  that  last 
tragic  week,  drew  out  of  Jesus  wondrous  words 


2/0  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

about  the  law  of  sacrifice.*  Their  request  niade  the 
necessity  for  His  coming  sacrifice  stand  out  more 
sharply  to  His  view — with  edgy  sharpness.  The 
realness  of  that  sacrifice  of  His  stands  out  very 
vividly  in  the  intensity  of  His  feelings,  of  which 
we  get  only  glimpses. 

Listen  to  Him  talking:  *if  the  grain  of  wheat 
doesn't  suffer  death,  it  lives;  but  it  lives  alone. 
But  through  death  it  may  live  in  the  midst  of  a 
harvest  of  golden  grains.  The  man  who  turns 
away  from  the  appeal  of  need  will  live  a  lonely 
life,  both  here  and  in  the  longer  life.  (Is  there 
anything  more  pathetic  and  pitiable  than  selfish 
loneliness!)  He  who  feels  the  sharp  tug  of  need, 
and  can't  resist  the  appeal  that  calls  for  his  life- 
blood,  rises  up  through  that  red  pathway  into  a 
blessed  fellowship  with  the  lives  that  owe  their  life 
to  his.' 

He  goes  on:  *  he  that  clingethwith  strong  self-love 
to  his  life  will  find  it  slipping,  slipping  insistently  out 
of  his  fingers,  leaving  a  dry  husk  of  a  shell  in  his 
tenacious  clutch.  But  he  who  in  the  stress  of  the 
world's  emergency  of  need,  and  in  the  thick  of  the 
subtlest  temptations  to  put  the  self-life  first,  treats 
that  life  as  a  hated  enemy,  to  be  opposed  and 
fought,  as  he  gives  himself  freely  out  to  heal  the 
world's  hurt,  he  will  find  all  the  sweets  and  fra- 
grance of  life  coming  to  him.  Their  unspeakable 
refreshment  will  ever  increase,  and  never  leave.' 

Then  follow  the  words  that  go  so  deep :  '  if  any 
man  would  serve  Me,  let  him  come  along,  putting 

»John  12:24-26. 


Sacrifice  271 

his  feet  into  my  prints.  Let  him  come  through  a 
long  Nazareth  life  of  common  toil  in  home  and 
shop,  then  along  the  crowded  path  of  glad  service 
for  others,  responding  to  every  call  of  need.  Let 
him  come  down  into  the  shadowed  olive-grove 
beyond  Kidron's  waters,  up  the  bit  of  a  hill  out- 
side a  city  wall,  and  deep  down  into  the  earth-soil 
of  men's  needs, 

*  And  where  I  am  there  I  will  surely  have  that 
faithful  follower  of  Mine  up  close  by  my  side.  He 
shall  find  himself  rising  up  out  of  the  common 
earth-life  into  a  new  life  of  strangely  strong 
drawing  power.  And,  while  he  will  be  all  wrapped 
up  in  love's  service,  My  Father  will  give  special 
touches  of  His  own  hand  upon  his  person,  and 
upon  his  service.' 

In  one  of  his  exquisitely  quiet  talks,  Henry 
Drummond  used  to  tell  the  story  of  a  famous 
statue  in  the  Fine  Arts  Gallery  of  Paris.  It  was 
the  work  of  a  great  genius,  who,  like  many  a 
genius,  was  very  poor,  and  lived  in  a  garret 
which  served  as  both  studio  and  sleeping-room. 

One  midnight,  when  the  statue  was  just  finished, 
a  sudden  frost  fell  upon  Paris.  The  sculptor  lay 
awake  in  his  fireless  garret,  and  thought  of  the 
still  moist  clay,  thought  how  the  moisture  in  the 
pores  would  freeze,  and  the  dream  of  his  life  would 
be  destroyed  in  a  night.  So  the  old  man  rose 
from  his  cot,  and  wrapped  his  bed-clothes  rever- 
ently about  the  statue,  and  lay  down  to  his  sleep. 

In  the  morning  the  neighbors  fond  him  lying 
dead.    His  life  had  gone  out  into  his  work.    It 


2/2    Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

was  saved.  He  was  gone.  But  he  still  lived  in  it, 
and  still  lives  in  it.  He  saved  not  his  life,  and  he 
found  a  new  life  in  the  world  of  his  art.  He  that 
saveth  his  life  shall  surely  lose  it.  He  that  gladly 
giveth  his  life  up  for  the  Master's  sake,  and  for 
men's  sake,  will  find  a  wholly  new  life  coming  to 
him. 

A  Rare  Harvest. 

There  is  a  strange  winsomeness  about  sacrilQce, 
peculiar  to  itself,  and  peculiarly  strong  in  its 
drawing  power.  Everywhere  men  acknowledge 
the  peculiar  fascination  for  them  of  the  man  who 
is  not  only  wholly  unselfish,  but  who  utterly  for- 
gets himself  in  doing  for  others.  The  feeling  is 
very  common  that  the  man  in  public  life  is  chiefly 
concerned  with  what  he  can  get  out  of  it  for  him- 
self. And  when,  now  and  then,  the  conviction 
seizes  the  crowd  that  some  public  man  is  not  of 
that  sort  at  all,  but  is  devoting  himself  unselfishly 
and  unsparingly  to  their  interest,  their  admiration 
and  love  for  him  amounts  to  a  worship  and  enthu- 
siasm that  knows  no  stint. 

There's  a  something  in  imselfish  sacrifice  in 
their  behalf  that  draws  the  crowd  peculiarly  and 
tremendously.  Jesus  said  that  if  He  were  lifted 
up  He  would  draw  men.  And  He  has.  He  was 
lifted  up  as  none  other,  and  He  has  been  drawing 
men  ever  since  as  none  other  ever  has  or  can. 
Quite  apart  from  other  truths  involved,  that 
sacrifice  of  His  had  in  itself  the  tremendous 
drawing  power  of  all  unselfish  action. 


Sacrifice  273 

And  sacrifice  brews  a  subtle  fragrance  of 
its  own  that  clings  to  the  person  as  the  soft  sweet 
odor  of  wild  roses.  No  one  is  ever  conscious  that 
there  is  any  such  fragrance  going  out  to  others. 
He  knows  the  inner  sweets  that  none  know  but 
they  who  give  sacrifice  brewing  room  within  them- 
selves. Such  folks  don't  stop  to  think  about  them- 
selves, except  to  be  thinking  of  helping  and  not 
hindering. 

The  very  winsomeness  of  the  sacrifice  spirit 
has  led  men  to  the  seeking  of  sacrifice.  It  seems 
strange  to  us  that  earnest  men  in  other  genera- 
tions have  sought  by  self-inflicted  suffering  to 
attain  to  the  power  that  goes  with  sacrifice.  And 
even  yet  some  morbid  people  may  be  found  fol- 
lowing in  their  steps. 

Don't  they  know  that  out  in  common  daily  life 
the  knife  of  sacrifice  is  held  across  the  path  con- 
stantly, sharp  edge  out,  barring  the  way?  And 
no  one  can  go  faithfully  his  common  round,  with 
flag  at  masthead,  and  needs  crowding  in  at  front 
and  rear  and  sides,  without  meeting  its  cutting 
edge.  That  edge  cutting  in  as  you  push  on  frees 
out  the  fine  fragrance.  Whenever  you  meet  a 
man  or  woman  with  that  fine  winsomeness  of 
spirit  that  can't  be  analyzed,  but  only  felt,  you 
may  know  that  there's  been  some  of  this  sort  of 
sharp  cutting  within. 

Blood  is  a  rare  fertilizer.    They  tell  me  that  the 

bit  of  ground  over  in  Belgium  called  Waterloo  bears 

each  spring  a  crop  of  rare  blue  forget-me-nots. 

That  bit  of  ground  had  very  unusual  gardening. 

18 


274   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

Ploughed  up  by  cannon-  and  gun-shot,  sown  deep 
with  men's  lives,  "worked"  never  so  thoroughly 
by  toiling,  struggling  feet,  moistened  with  the  gentle 
rain  of  dying  tears,  and  soaked  with  red  life,  it  now 
yields  its  yearly  harvest  of  beauty.  All  life's  a 
Waterloo  and  can  be  made  to  yield  a  rich  growth 
of  fragrant  flowers. 

The  Fellowship  of  Scars. 

And  there's  yet  more  of  this  winsomeness. 
There's  a  spirit  power  that  goes  out  of  sacrifice. 
It  reaches  far  beyond  the  limited  personal  circle, 
out  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  It  can't  be  analyzed, 
nor  defined,  nor  described,  but  it  can  be  felt.  We 
don't  know  much  about  the  law  of  spirit  currents. 
But  we  know  the  spirit  currents  themselves,  fcff 
every  one  is  affected  by  them  and  every  one  is 
sending  them  out  of  himself. 

You  pick  up  a  book,  and  suddenly  find  there's 
a  something  in  it  that  takes  hold  of  you  irresistibly. 
A  flame  seems  to  burn  in  it,  and  then  in  you. 
Invisible  fingers  seem  to  reach  out  of  the  page  and 
play  freely  up  and  down  the  key-board  of  your 
heart.  Why  is  it  ?  I  don't  know  much  about  it. 
It's  an  elusive  thing.  But  I  can  tell  you  my 
conviction,  that  grows  stronger  daily. 

There's  a  fife  back  of  that  book ;  there  is  sacrifice 
in  that  fife  of  the  keen,  cutting  sort;  and  Jesus  is  in 
that  life,  too,  giving  it  His  personal  flavor.  The 
life  back  of  the  book  has  come  into  the  book.  It's 
that  Hfe  you  are  feeHng  as  you  read.  Spirit  power 
knows  nothing  about  distance.     The  man  who 


Sacrifice  275 

3delds  to  sacrifice  has  a  world-field,  and  is  touch- 
ing his  field  in  a  sense  far  greater  than  he  ever 
knows. 

And  there  is  still  more.  The  Master  knows 
aur  sacrifices.  He  keenly  notes  the  spirit  that 
would  give  all,  even  as  He  did.  He  can  breathe 
most  of  His  own  spirit  into  such  a  life.  For  it  is 
most  open  to  Him.  He  can  do  most  through  that 
spirit,  for  it  comes  nearest  to  His  own.  His  own 
winsomeness  breathes  out  of  that  Hfe  constantly. 

There's  a  simple  litde  tale  that  comes  dressed 
in  very  homely  garb.  The  story  has  in  it  a  bit  of 
that  that  makes  the  heart  burn.  It  has  all  the 
marks  of  real  life.    It  runs  thus : 

"In  one  poor  room,  that  was  all  their  home, 

A  mother  lay  on  her  bed. 
Her  seven  children  around  her; 

And,  calling  the  eldest,  she  said: 

*  Fm  going  to  leave  you,  Mary; 

You're  nearly  fourteen,  you  know; 
And  now  you  must  be  a  good  girl,  dear, 

And  make  me  easy  to  go. 

*You  can't  depend  much  on  father; 

But  just  be  patient,  my  child. 
And  keep  the  children  out  of  his  way 

Whenever  he  comes  home  wild. 

*And  keep  the  house  as  well  as  you  can; 

And,  little  daughter,  think 
He  didn't  use  to  be  so; 

Remember,  it's  all  the  drink.* 

The  weeping  daughter  promised 
Always  to  do  her  best; 


276  Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners  j 

And,  closing  her  eyes  over  weary  life,  \ 

The  mother  entered  her  rest  1 

And  Mary  kept  her  promise 

As  faithfully  as  she  might. 
She  cooked,  and  washed,  and  mended, 

And  kept  things  tidy  and  bright.  j 

And  when  the  father  came  home  drunk, 
The  children  were  sent  to  bed,  j 

And  Mary  waited  alone,  and  took  ; 

The  beatings  in  their  stead.  ■ 

And  the  little  chubby  fingers  lost  ; 

Their  childish  softness  and  grace. 
And  toughened  and  chapped  and  calloused,  '■ 

And  the  rosy,  childish  face  I 

Grew  thin  and  haggard  and  anxious, 

Careworn,  tired,  and  old,  ^ 

As  on  those  slender  shoulders  i 

The  burdens  of  life  were  rolled. 

So,  when  the  heated  season 

Burned  pitiless  overhead, 
And  up  from  the  filth  of  the  noisome  street  j 

The  fatal  fever  spread,  I 

And  work  and  want  and  drunken  blows 

Had  weakened  the  tender  frame, 
Into  the  squalid  room  once  more  i 

The  restful  shadow  came. 

And  Mary  sent  for  the  playmate  ) 

Who  lived  just  over  the  way,  ■ 

And  said,  'The  charity  Doctor,  [ 

Has  been  here,  Katie,  to-day.  ' 

*He  says  I'll  never  be  better —  \ 

The  fever  has  been  so  bad;  j 

And  if  it  wasn't  for  one  thing,  '     j 

I'm  sure  I'd  just  be  glad.  j 

i 
i 


Sacrifice  277 

*  It  isn't  about  the  children; 

I've  kept  my  promise  good, 
And  mother  will  know  I  stayed  with  them 
As  long  as  ever  I  could. 

'  But  you  know  how  it  has  been,  Katie; 

I've  had  so  much  to  do, 
I  couldn't  mind  the  children 

And  go  to  the  preaching,  too. 

*  And  I've  been  so  tired-like  at  night, 

I  couldn't  think  to  pray, 
And  now,  when  I  see  the  Lord  Jesus, 
What  ever  am  I  to  say?' 

And  Katie,  the  little  comforter, 
Her  help  to  the  problem  brought; 

And  into  her  heart,  made  wise  by  loTe, 
The  Spirit  sent  this  thought: 

*  I  wouldn't  say  a  word,  dear, 

For  sure  He  understands; 
I  wouldn't  say  ever  a  word  at  all; 
But,  Mary,  just  show  Him  your  hands/*** 

Jesus  knows  every  scar  of  sacrifice  you  bear, 
and  loves  it  For  it  tells  Him  your  love.  He 
knows  the  meaning  of  scars,  because  of  His  own. 
The  marks  of  sacrifice  cement  our  fellowship 
with  Him.  The  nearer  we  come  to  fellowship 
with  Him  in  the  daily  touch  and  spirit  the  more 
freely  can  He  reach  out  His  own  great  winsome- 
ness  through  us,  out  to  His  dear  world. 

*' Won't  You  Save  Me?'* 

To  outsiders,  who  don't  know  about  the  thing, 
that  word  "sacrifice"  has  an  ugly  sound.  It  drives 
them  away.     But  to  the  insiders,  who  have  come 


278   Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

in  by  the  Jesus-door,  there  is  a  joyousness  of  the 
bubbling-out,  singing  sort,  that  makes  the  word 
"sacrifice,"  and  the  thing  itself,  clean  forgot  even 
while  remembered.  It  is  remembered  as  a  dis- 
tinct real  thing,  but  it  is  pushed  away  from  the 
centre  of  your  consciousness  by  this  song  that  insists 
on  singing  its  music  into  the  ears  of  your  heart. 

I  said  a  while  ago  in  these  talks  that  it  would  be 
an  easy  thing  for  the  whole  Church,  or  even  half 
of  the  Church,  to  take  Jesus  fully  out  to  all  the 
world.  But  may  I  tell  you  now  plainly  that  it 
won^t  be  an  easy  thing?  Somebody  will  have 
to  sacrifice  if  the  thing's  to  be  done.  And  that 
somebody  will  be  you,  if  you  go  along  where  the 
Master  calls.  If  you  count  on  the  Church  doing 
it,  or  on  anybody  else  doing  it,  you  may  be  sure 
of  one  thing:  some  part  of  what  needs  doing 
won't  be  done. 

But  if  you  and  I  will  reckon  that  this  thing 
belongs  to  us,  as  if  there  were  nobody  else  to  do  it, 
and  push  an; — well,  there'll  be  sacrifice  of  the 
real  sort  and,  too,  there'll  be  all  of  sacrifice's  pe- 
culiar winsomeness  going  out  to  draw  men.  And 
there  wiU  be  men  changed  where  you  live,  and 
out  where  you  will  never  go  personally. 

And  there  will  be  a  great  joy  in  your  heart,  but 
with  the  greater  joy  breaking  out  in  the  Morning, 
when  the  King  comes  to  His  own. 

"I  hear  the  sob  of  the  parted. 
The  wail  of  the  broken-hearted, 
The  sigh  for  the  loved  departed, 
In  the  surging  roar  of  the  towa. 


Sacrifice  279 

And  it's,  oh,  for  the  joy  of  the  Morning! 
The  light  and  song  of  the  Morning! 
There'll  be  joy  in  the  Christmas  Morning 
When  the  King  comes  to  His  own! 

"Now  let  our  hearts  be  true,  brothers, 
To  suffer  and  to  do,  brothers; 
There'll  be  a  song  for  you,  brothers, 

When  the  battle's  fought  and  won. 
It  won't  seem  long  in  the  Morning, 
In  the  light  and  song  of  the  Morning 
There'll  be  joy  in  the  Christmas  Morning 

When  the  King  comes  to  His  own! 

**  Arise,  and  be  of  good  cheer,  brothers; 
The  day  will  soon  be  here,  brothers; 
The  victory  is  near,  brothers; 

And  the  sound  of  the  glad  '  Well  done!' 
There'll  be  no  sad  heart  in  the  Morning 
No  tear  will  start  in  the  Morning; 
There'll  be  joy  in  the  Christmas  Morning 

When  the  King  comes  to  His  own! 

"We're  in  for  the  winning  side,  brothers, 
Bound  to  the  Lord  who  died,  brothers. 
We  shall  see  Him  glorified,  brothers. 

And  the  Lamb  shall  wear  the  crown. 
What  of  the  cold  world's  scorning? 
There'll  be  joy  enough  in  the  Morning 
There'll  be  joy  in  the  Christmas  Morning, 

When  the  King  comes  to  His  own!" 

Years  ago  a  steamer  out  on  Lake  Erie  caught 
fire,  and  headed  at  once  for  the  nearest  land. 
All  was  wild  confusion,  as  men  and  women  strug- 
gled for  means  of  escape.  In  the  crowd  was  a 
returning    California    gold-miner.    He   fastened 


28o    Quiet  Talks  With  World  Winners 

the  belt  containing  his  gold  securely  about  his  waist 
and  was  preparing  to  try  to  swim  ashore.  Just 
then  a  little  sweet-faced  girl  in  the  crowd  touched 
his  hand,  and  looked  up  beseechingly  into  his 
face,  and  said,  "Won't  you  please  save  me?  I 
have  no  papa  here  to  save  me.  Won't  you, 
please?" 

What  would  he  do  ?  He  gave  the  belt  of  gold, 
that  meant  such  a  hard  struggle,  one  swift  glance. 
But  that  soft  child- touch  on  his  hand,  and  that 
face  and  voice  strangely  affected  him.  He 
couldn't  save  both; — which?  The  quick-as-flash 
thoughts  came  all  in  a  heap.  Then  he  dropped 
the  gold,  and  took  the  child,  made  the  plunge,  and 
by  and  by  reached  land,  utterly  exhausted,  and 
lay  unconscious.  As  his  eyes  opened  the  child  he 
had  saved  was  standing  over  him  with  the  tears 
of  gratitude  flooding  her  eyes.  And  a  human 
life  never  seemed  quite  so  precious.  He  had  lost 
his  gold,  and  his  years  of  toil,  but  he  had  saved 
a  life,  and  in  saving  it  had  found  a  new  life  spring- 
ing up  within  himself. 

As  we  close  our  talk  together  will  you  listen 
very  softly.  Listen :  out  of  the  distance  comes  a 
murmur  of  voices,  like  a  low,  long  heart-cry.  It 
comes  from  near-by,  where  you  live.  It  comes 
most  from  far-away  lands.  Its  words  are  pathet- 
ically distinct:  ^'Will  you  save  me?  I  have  no 
one  to  save  me.  Won't  you?  "  And  we  can  do  it. 
But  the  gold  and  the  life  must  go.  Shall  we  do  it, 
hand  in  hand  with  Jesus,  the  only  Saviour  ?  Shall 
we  not  do  it? 


Printed  in  the   United  States  of  A  tnerica 


Princeton  Theological  Seminat7  Libraries 


1    1012  01251    1608 


Date  Due 

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